![]() ![]() Still, marriage can influence the outcome. Indeed, there is little evidence that marriage reduces the overall risk of getting cancer. The well-established links between stress, depression, social isolation, and heart disease make it easy to see how a good marriage might protect the heart. But even after this serious problem has developed, a supportive marriage is associated with improved survival. Over time, in fact, marital stress is associated with thickening of the heart's main pumping chamber, but job stress does not take a similar toll on the heart.Ĭoronary artery disease and hypertension are among the most important causes of heart failure, a chronic disabling condition that results when the weakened heart muscle is unable to pump all the blood that the body's tissues need. But in other studies, marital unhappiness and stress have been linked to an important cardiac risk factor, hypertension. In the Framingham study, marital happiness did not seem to influence the overall protective effect of marriage. Even after taking major cardiovascular risk factors such as age, body fat, smoking, blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol into account, married men had a 46% lower rate of death than unmarried men. Scientists evaluated 3,682 adults over a 10-year period. And a report from the Framingham Offspring Study also suggests that marriage is truly heartwarming. Japanese scientists reported that never-married men were three times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than married men. If marriage protects health, the heart would be a likely beneficiary. In the contemporary world, smart wives promote healthy hearts. And a 2009 study reported that men married to more educated women also enjoyed a lower death rate than men married to less educated women. But a 2002 study found that the more educated a man's wife, the lower his risk for coronary artery disease and risk factors such as hypertension, obesity, high cholesterol, smoking, and lack of exercise. With more and more women getting advanced degrees, that might give some single guys pause. In the 1980s, several studies suggested that men whose wives had more education than they had were more likely to die from coronary artery disease than men married to less educated women. ![]() But before we turn to the why, let's look at how marriage affects specific diseases, including America's leading killers, cardiovascular disease and cancer. More recently, scientists have begun to understand why married men enjoy better health than their single, divorced, and widowed peers. Numerous studies conducted over the past 150 years suggest that marriage is good for health. ![]() People living with unmarried partners tend to fare better than those living alone, but men living with their wives have the best health of all. But research shows the reverse is true: unhealthy men actually marry earlier, are less likely to divorce, and are more likely to remarry following divorce or bereavement than healthy men.Īnother potential factor is loneliness is the institution of marriage linked to better health, or is it simply a question of living with another person? Although studies vary, the answer seems to be a little of both. Some have argued that self-selection would skew the results if healthy men are more likely to marry than men with health problems. But is marriage itself responsible for better health and longer life?Īlthough it's hard to be sure, marriage seems to deserve at least part of the credit. Men who have marital partners also live longer than men without spouses men who marry after age 25 get more protection than those who tie the knot at a younger age, and the longer a man stays married, the greater his survival advantage over his unmarried peers. Married men and mortalityĪ major survey of 127,545 American adults found that married men are healthier than men who were never married or whose marriages ended in divorce or widowhood. Without treading into these deep waters, though, it's also useful to ask how marriage itself affects men's health. The many social, economic, psychological, and spiritual ramifications of these huge changes have been the topic of much discussion and debate, and more will follow. Single parenting is now common, and society is becoming increasingly comfortable with various patterns of cohabitation. Many people find love without getting married, and many marriages turn loveless and hostile as divorce rates soar. And when it comes to marriage, there have also been enormous changes since Sammy Cahn penned his romantic lyrics in the Ozzie and Harriet era. Much has changed, obviously, since the horse and buggy days. Both married men and unmarried men of a certain age, may remember the tune, if not the words:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |