Episode 49. Marriage IQ Exclusive! Why a Happy Marriage May Be the Best Medicine
The Surprising Science Behind Marriage and Longevity
Is your marriage your most powerful prescription? The research says… maybe yes.
Scott has always been intrigued by the connection between love and longevity. So together, we dove into the data—and what we discovered may change the way you view marriage entirely.
It turns out, marriage isn’t just about emotional support. When done well, it might just be one of the most underappreciated health interventions of our time.
Marriage: A Powerful Predictor of Health
Study after study reveals the same trend: married people live longer and healthier lives. And not by a little.
The CDC reports:
Death rate for married adults: 780 per 100,000
Never-married: 1,400 per 100,000
Divorced: 1,300 per 100,000
Widowed: 1,600 per 100,000
A global analysis of 7.8 million people found:
Unmarried individuals had a significantly higher risk of death from any cause
The impact was 46% higher for men, and 22% higher for women
At age 65:
Married men live 2.5 years longer than unmarried men
Married women live 1.5 years longer than their unmarried peers
The Heart Wants What It… Actually Needs?
One of the most surprising findings: marriage might protect your heart better than some medications.
Never-married men are over 3x more likely to die from heart disease than married men.
Being married can lower heart disease death risk by 30–70%, compared to the 20–25% reduction from cholesterol-lowering meds.
“After accounting for more than a dozen socioeconomic, behavioral, and health factors, marital status remained the strongest predictor of survival after a heart attack.” – Dupre et al.
The Mental Health Boost of Marriage
The benefits go beyond blood pressure and cholesterol.
A multinational study found unmarried people are up to 80% more likely to experience depression
Married individuals are 60–70% less likely to struggle with alcohol use disorders
And continuous marriage appears to buffer against cognitive decline in later life
Quality Over Status: A Happy Marriage Makes the Difference
Not all marriages protect health. In fact, the wrong kind can harm it.
People in unhappy marriages report higher levels of anxiety, depression, and even PTSD symptoms
In follow-up studies, unhappy spouses were almost 40% more likely to die early
Poor marital quality is consistently linked to worse health outcomes overall
So while marriage can be good for your health, it’s a good marriage that matters most.
Why the Gender Gap?
Here’s where things get interesting.
Men benefit more from marriage than women. Why?
Women tend to have more social support outside their marriage
Wives often take the lead on encouraging healthy habits and medical care
Many women carry more emotional labor, which can blunt the benefits if the relationship lacks mutual support
Correlation or Causation?
Sure, healthy people may be more likely to get married. But is marriage itself part of the health equation?
Turns out, yes. Longitudinal studies that track people before and after marriage show consistent health improvements. Researchers believe both selection and protection are at play:
✔️ Healthier people may be more likely to marry
✔️ But marriage also provides emotional, financial, and practical support that boosts well-being
Takeaways for Couples: How to Make Love Your Superpower
Whether you're happily married, struggling, or somewhere in between, here's what you can do:
Focus on quality, not just status – Emotional safety, respect, and support matter
Make health a shared priority – Cook, move, and rest well—together
Nurture connection, not just commitment – Strong bonds are protective
Get help when things feel off – Counseling isn’t a last resort; it’s a relational tune-up
Invest in friendship – The best health-boosting marriages are built on genuine liking and trust
“A loving, supportive partnership may not just enrich your emotional life—it might help you live longer, too.”
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[00:00:02 - 00:00:08]
Welcome to Marriage iQ, the podcast for the intelligent spouse.[00:00:08 - 00:00:10]
I'm Dr. Heidi Hastings.[00:00:10 - 00:00:12]
And I'm Dr. Scott Hastings.[00:00:13 - 00:00:31]
We are two doctors, two researchers, two spouses, two lovers, and two incredibly different human beings coming together for one purpose. To transform the stinky parts of your marriage into scintillating ones, using intelligence mixed with a little fun.[00:00:34 - 00:02:06]
Howdy, partners. Welcome back to another thought provoking episode of Marriage iq. Woohoo. We, your most humble and loyal advocates, guide you concisely and expertly, like leading a bull in a china shop or a butterfly in a thunderstorm through the intricacies of a life not just well lived, but scintillating to boot, arm in arm with the one who you love and cherish to the end of your days. We have discussed in previous episodes about how being married actually increases your health and wellness and decreases your risk of chronic disease and death. Living in a marital relationship makes for good health, both mentally and physically. But, Dr. Hastings, how do you know that being married actually lowers your risk for cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and other nasty health problems? That's a great question, and I wanted to do a deep dive on this information because I really wanted to know. I set out once and for all to really find out if marriage does confer these great benefits or not. And I asked Heidi for permission, which she generously gave, to devote a lot of this episode to that information. This is Marriage IQ exclusive content, right?[00:02:06 - 00:02:09]
This is stuff that you're not going to be getting anywhere else.[00:02:09 - 00:02:32]
No other marriage podcast dares to go here because we were going to the medical doctor's office. We're talking about how scientific research has revealed that marriage itself may outperform cholesterol medications that I prescribe every day for my patients. Opening question. Heidi, does getting married come with a health boost? What do you think?[00:02:32 - 00:02:50]
From a social science perspective? There are greater health outcomes associated with marriage in a few studies that I've looked at. I also think back to our episode 41 on libido lab where it said orgasms for women can increase their immunity.[00:02:50 - 00:02:51]
All right, that's true.[00:02:51 - 00:03:01]
One thing I think we have talked about, some of the hormonal health benefits that there are. Is that medical?[00:03:01 - 00:03:02]
Yeah.[00:03:03 - 00:03:06]
Okay. I don't know. What do you see in science and in your office?[00:03:06 - 00:03:48]
That's a great question. Our goal here at Marriage IQ is to give you, our loyal listeners, the tools so you can decide for yourself. We'll explore what the science says about the link between marriage and health, both physical and mental. It is a complex picture. Married folks do appear, on average to be healthier. But we need to dig deeper and ask why Is it that marriage causes better health? Or could it be that healthier or wealthier people are more likely to get married in the first place? We'll have a friendly evidence based chat about the benefits and the caveats.[00:03:49 - 00:03:50]
All right, I'm excited.[00:03:50 - 00:03:53]
Let's start this out by talking about death.[00:03:54 - 00:03:56]
Death. Oh my gosh.[00:03:56 - 00:04:08]
Because that's how I think we should always start out. A marriage podcast dealing on health and wellness. What better way to find out if something helps you live longer than doing a deep dive on how likely you're.[00:04:08 - 00:04:11]
Going to die, how likely you're going to be today?[00:04:12 - 00:04:12]
Yes.[00:04:13 - 00:04:21]
So how do married people stack up against unmarried people, though, in some of these studies, as far as health benefits?[00:04:21 - 00:05:09]
Okay, here are the numbers. The Centers for Disease Control cites large scale data that show a clear pattern. Married people generally have lower death rates from any cause, like heart attack, like cancer, suicide, pneumonia, things like that. And they have better physical health outcomes than those who aren't married. In the U.S. national statistics, for example, the death rate for married adults is notably lower, about 780 per 100,000 than for never married, which is about 1,400 per 100,000. So the divorced rate is about 1,300 per 100,000 and widowed is about 1600 per 100,000.[00:05:09 - 00:05:10]
Wow.[00:05:10 - 00:05:29]
In a huge analysis done by Wang in 2020 that included over 7.8 million people worldwide of all ages, cultures, languages, and beliefs, being unmarried was associated with a higher risk of dying from any cause for both men and women.[00:05:29 - 00:05:30]
Wow.[00:05:30 - 00:05:41]
Interesting that higher mortality risk was more pronounced in men at 46% than for women at 22%.[00:05:41 - 00:05:46]
Meaning that single men were more likely to die of anything than single women.[00:05:46 - 00:05:52]
Yes. And you will start to see a trend in all of this about unmarried men and health.[00:05:53 - 00:05:53]
Okay.[00:05:53 - 00:06:13]
Another study reported by Harvard Health, surveying over 127,000American adults, found that married men are healthier than unmarried men. They live longer than unmarried men starting at age 65. Married men live about two and a half years longer than their unmarried counterparts.[00:06:13 - 00:06:14]
Interesting.[00:06:14 - 00:06:19]
And married women live about a year and a half longer than unmarried counterparts.[00:06:19 - 00:06:26]
So again, men have greater benefit to being married in the research than women.[00:06:26 - 00:06:46]
We're just getting started. Yes. The trend continues throughout this episode about marriage and men. The longer that a man is married, the greater his survival advantage over his unmarried peers. Simply put, on average, married people live longer and have lower rates of certain illnesses.[00:06:46 - 00:06:54]
So, Scott, what are some specific ways that research shows that married people often have better health.[00:06:54 - 00:06:57]
All right, great question. You want to dig down on specifics?[00:06:57 - 00:06:59]
Let's get some specifics going.[00:06:59 - 00:07:01]
Let's talk about marriage and heart health.[00:07:01 - 00:07:10]
Okay. It's a really great place to start because the heart is really the center of marriage. Right. Okay. So does marriage impact heart?[00:07:10 - 00:07:28]
It does. Marriage's biggest impact seems to show up in conditions like heart disease. For example, a study of over 94,000 people by Akita in 2007 found that never married men had over three times the risk of dying from heart disease.[00:07:29 - 00:07:34]
I know why. Because they're eating fast food all the time.[00:07:34 - 00:07:35]
That's why.[00:07:36 - 00:07:38]
I'm thinking that's why. Okay, go ahead.[00:07:38 - 00:07:42]
And nearly double the risk of death from all causes.[00:07:42 - 00:07:43]
Okay.[00:07:43 - 00:07:44]
Probably more fast food.[00:07:44 - 00:07:45]
Probably.[00:07:46 - 00:08:00]
So I actually, I geeked out on this and did a deep dive and reviewed the Cochrane Library online. If you're unfamiliar with Cochrane, they are the gold standard for meta analyses on looking at different conditions.[00:08:00 - 00:08:01]
Okay.[00:08:01 - 00:08:26]
So a very reputable source. I looked at the Cochrane Online regarding statin cholesterol, like Lipitor, the effects on the risk of people dying from a heart attack, and compared it to the risk of married people. We did not control for married people in the cholesterol study. What they did control for is the cholesterol medicine versus no cholesterol medicine.[00:08:26 - 00:08:26]
Okay.[00:08:26 - 00:08:40]
Married or not, that was not a factor. But they compared the cholesterol medicine taking it versus not. And then I put that together and compared it contrasted it with people who are married versus people who are not married.[00:08:40 - 00:08:41]
Okay.[00:08:41 - 00:09:06]
So according to Cochrane, taking cholesterol drug resulted in around a 20 to 25% lower risk of dying of a heart attack. In some other studies, like the one From Johnson in 2000, Dupre in 2016, married people were around 30% and up to 70% less likely to die of heart disease than unmarried people.[00:09:06 - 00:09:09]
So the drug was that 20%.[00:09:10 - 00:09:11]
Did you say 20 to 25%?[00:09:11 - 00:09:20]
Cholesterol lowering drug, but just being married lowers it by 30 to 70%? Yes, depending on the study, the study.[00:09:20 - 00:09:23]
And the certain specific subtypes.[00:09:24 - 00:09:28]
Okay. Wow, that's a big difference. That's significant.[00:09:28 - 00:09:48]
In fact, in the Dupre study, they said, quote, after accounting for more than a dozen socioeconomic, psychosocial, behavioral and physiologic factors, we found that current marital status remained the most robust indicator of survival following a heart attack.[00:09:48 - 00:09:50]
Wow. That's incredible.[00:09:51 - 00:09:55]
Yes. I love it. Data research, right?[00:09:55 - 00:09:55]
Yeah.[00:09:55 - 00:10:03]
Does this mean that simply being married works better than Lipitor? It may Be. It's very important.[00:10:03 - 00:10:25]
Yeah, I think that is a good statistic. I don't personally know a lot of people taking Lipitor. And for me, the big scary word in health is the C word or cancer. So tell me, how does being married impact either chances of survival from cancer or chances of contracting cancer?[00:10:26 - 00:10:34]
Great question. Married people actually are diagnosed earlier with cancer than unmarried people.[00:10:34 - 00:10:35]
Question.[00:10:35 - 00:10:35]
Yes.[00:10:35 - 00:10:43]
Does that mean they get cancer earlier or they notice it were diagnosed earlier?[00:10:44 - 00:10:47]
So again, that might be a confounding.[00:10:47 - 00:10:49]
Hey, honey, make sure you're getting your colonoscopy right.[00:10:49 - 00:10:57]
And also, married people might have more access to resources, and so they may get diagnosed earlier.[00:10:57 - 00:11:01]
So you're not saying married people have more cancer?[00:11:01 - 00:11:04]
No, I'm saying they're diagnosed earlier than unmarried people.[00:11:04 - 00:11:05]
Okay.[00:11:05 - 00:11:29]
But here's the kicker, okay. Is that even though they might be diagnosed earlier, they survive the cancer longer. One study of 27,000 cancer cases found that unmarried patients were often diagnosed at later stages and had poorer survival than married patients, even when treatment was the same.[00:11:30 - 00:11:37]
Again, that could be for socioeconomic reasons. It could be they just don't have somebody to say, you really need to go to the doctor about this.[00:11:37 - 00:12:12]
Well, and they did control for treatment, too, and they still found the differences. Okay, so it doesn't change the risk of getting the cancer, but it does change the outcome of that cancer, aka death. So another study by CR in 2022, I'm sure I slaughtered his name, supports this. Unmarried people do much worse with overall cancer survival compared to married people. And that difference is more profound in unmarried men. Another trend. It continues. Do you see a pattern here?[00:12:12 - 00:12:14]
Yep, I. I am seeing it.[00:12:14 - 00:12:14]
Men.[00:12:14 - 00:12:16]
Men need. Definitely they need.[00:12:16 - 00:12:40]
Women have more positive outcomes from marriage. They both too, but it's more pronounced in men. Regarding immune function and marriage, Johnson, in 2000, unmarried people were 60% more likely to die from pneumonia and flu than married people. That's a big number. It just keeps going. The immune system, cancer, heart disease.[00:12:42 - 00:13:09]
All right, Dr. Hastings, here's another question for you. So I can see how marriage can help all of these different types of accessing health of just better health outcomes in a lot of ways. But what about if you have a spouse who's really good at cooking those really high fat and refined foods? Like foods that are really unhealthy for you, you mean?[00:13:09 - 00:13:15]
Or what if deep fried Twinkies covered in chocolate. Those are absolutely healthy.[00:13:16 - 00:13:27]
And white bread and white sugar and no whole grains and no vegetables and no fruits. Like, what about that? Maybe in those Cases. Is marriage a risk factor?[00:13:27 - 00:13:33]
That's a great question. Interestingly, marriage is not a free pass to perfect health.[00:13:34 - 00:13:43]
Or what if you sit around and drink together or smoke together at the end of the night to watch your ball games or whatever? Could marriage be another risk factor?[00:13:43 - 00:13:59]
There are some studies to show that some health behaviors do improve with marriage and others deteriorate. For example, married adults tend to have lower rates of heavy drinking and substance abuse than single counterparts.[00:13:59 - 00:14:00]
Okay.[00:14:00 - 00:14:10]
On the flip side, when we're talking about deep fried Twinkies, married couples are prone to gaining weight. I've never had a deep fried Twinkie, by the way.[00:14:10 - 00:14:14]
You did have a deep fried Ding Dong at the Texas State Fair a couple of years ago.[00:14:14 - 00:14:16]
It was overrated.[00:14:16 - 00:14:17]
I did not.[00:14:17 - 00:14:21]
Let me tell you. So that was, I think are hazardous to your health.[00:14:21 - 00:14:28]
Yeah, that was not from my influence that in the deep fried turkey leg that was $20.[00:14:29 - 00:14:32]
Spouses might influence each other's habits for better and worse.[00:14:33 - 00:14:55]
That is really true. I think me changing my way of eating about eight years ago has really impacted the way you eat as well. I always say you have your agency, you can eat whatever you want. But I've noticed a shift just from one person making changes in their health as far as eating exercise and then followed along more.[00:14:55 - 00:14:56]
I did.[00:14:56 - 00:14:58]
I'm a follower in that way anyway.[00:14:59 - 00:15:07]
So yeah, while marriage can encourage a healthier lifestyle in some ways, it might also lead to weight and other bad habits, as we discussed.[00:15:07 - 00:15:18]
Yeah, weight gain. I think I've seen studies say 15 pounds at least come with marriage, although I've also heard it as the freshman 15. So I don't know. Is that maybe.[00:15:18 - 00:15:19]
I found that on 30 pounds, right?[00:15:19 - 00:16:07]
Yeah. And then every baby after that, 16 more. So this is all really great, Scott, and from your realm of research, I can see that marriage really does help things. Can I share with you some of the benefits from a social science perspective that go along with marriage? Marriage also often provides social and emotional support. That can be a really big plus for mental health. Having a partner to talk to or to tell when we've had a really bad day to say, I'm really not doing well. Can I unload some things on you and get your perspective? Or even if I'm just having an emotional meltdown, someone to lean on and to say, can I just rub your feet sometimes?[00:16:07 - 00:16:08]
The answer is no.[00:16:09 - 00:17:25]
It can also help buffer against depression and anxiety having that other person in our life. Research does consistently find in the social sciences on average, that people who are Married report lower levels of depression and stress than those who are not married. For example, there was a recent multinational study, seven different countries with a sample of over 100,000 adults from North America, Europe and Asia by Zai et al. In 2024, just recently came out. And he found that people who weren't married were up to 80% more likely to have symptoms of depression than those who were married. Of course, that depended upon what country they came from and whether they smoked or drank. But ultimately, he found that singles had a lot higher risk of depression compared to those who were married. Okay, so in that analysis, unmarried men showed particular higher risk of depression compared to unmarried women. Interesting.[00:17:26 - 00:17:29]
Yet again, unmarried men versus unmarried women. Wow.[00:17:29 - 00:17:37]
Yeah. Suggesting that men especially may benefit from the emotional support that marriage offers.[00:17:37 - 00:17:41]
Men get married. That's it.[00:17:41 - 00:17:42]
That's what we're finding.[00:17:42 - 00:17:47]
What other research have you found? The realm of mental health besides depression?[00:17:47 - 00:18:26]
Yeah. When we think of mental health, when we think of that term, we often think of depression and anxiety, those types of things. But there are findings also that marriage helps more than that. Research shows that married people have lower rates of substance abuse. In a 2016 study by Kendall E.R. et al. They found that men were 60% and women 71% less likely to develop an alcohol use disorder if they were married, especially those who already had a family history of alcohol abuse.[00:18:26 - 00:18:29]
So, yeah, the family history, it was still protective.[00:18:29 - 00:18:35]
Simply being married decreased their substance abuse by 60 to 70%.[00:18:35 - 00:18:37]
Family history plays a big role in that.[00:18:37 - 00:19:09]
His research also showed that those with alcohol use disorders who are married are more likely to decrease their use of alcohol after getting married. Or even thinking that they're maybe going to get married causes them to consider decreasing alcohol use. I just saw a. A news story this week about a little couple who are in their 90s, and they credit their age and benefits to him singing to her every night before bed. So they've been married a lot.[00:19:09 - 00:19:10]
Like a ritual.[00:19:10 - 00:20:05]
Yeah. And for about 50 years, every night, he will sing to her, whether she's in the hospital, whether she's going to bed. And she loves it. Just that intimate connection creates so much meaning in life. There's talk about how marriage acts as a protective factor for cognitive decline. In one study that appeared in the Journal of Aging and health in 2023 by Skerbeck, his research showed that marriage was a protective factor for cognitive decline for those who stay continuously married. Now, it wasn't as much of a protective factor for those who'd been divorced during middle age years, but if they had stayed married for decades, their ability to hold on to that cognitive function longer was significantly better for those who were married.[00:20:05 - 00:20:14]
So people who got married later in life, it maybe was not as protective as those who were married earlier and then stayed married later into life.[00:20:14 - 00:20:55]
Those kind of things made it dip a little bit again. You can see some of the research that you shared that may be similar reasons. For example, married individuals tended to have lower rates of dementia in older age than those who had divorced. When I think of my parents, I see how my mom has taken care of my dad. About 10 years ago, he started to have cognitive decline and she would do puzzles with him. She would have him fold the laundry or do the dishes or look at pictures and say who people were. All of those, I think, slowed down his cognitive decline, even though now he's in pretty significant cognitive decline.[00:20:55 - 00:21:05]
And so this is a hits home for us as we both have one parent who has dementia. So we're trying to do all we can to avoid that.[00:21:05 - 00:21:05]
Yes.[00:21:05 - 00:21:08]
Including doing Marriage IQ podcasts.[00:21:08 - 00:21:16]
That's right. Learning all there is to learn about podcasting, learning new things and doing it together and holding each other accountable.[00:21:16 - 00:21:17]
Yes.[00:21:17 - 00:21:18]
Is really helpful.[00:21:19 - 00:21:33]
Now wait a minute, Dr. Hastings, my love, are you saying that everything is the same whether I have a great marriage or a bad marriage? It's not just being married that matters.[00:21:33 - 00:22:20]
It's definitely not just about being married that matters. It's really whether or not you're happily married that makes the difference for mental well being and other illnesses. So as you might imagine, a supportive, loving relationship can really positively impact your mood and self esteem. Whereas if your marriage is strained or has lots of conflict, neglect or abuse, chronic stress, or is plagued with sexual betrayal that are known to trigger mental health problems, those are definitely considered risk factors. The outcomes are actually the total opposite. People in really unhappy marriages often report higher anxiety and more depression and even PTSD like effects.[00:22:20 - 00:22:23]
So PTSD means Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.[00:22:23 - 00:22:31]
Right. Single people actually have better mental health outcomes than people who are stuck for decades in unhappy marriages.[00:22:31 - 00:22:40]
So it sounds to me, Dr. Hastings, like people who are married need to listen to podcasts like Marriage IQ and.[00:22:40 - 00:22:44]
Encourage their friends and family members and loved ones so that they can flip.[00:22:44 - 00:22:49]
The script and have scintillating marriages.[00:22:49 - 00:23:50]
So listeners, if you are in marriage, that's causing you significant psychological pain. The research on happy couples doesn't apply to you necessarily, and probably not in those cases, getting help with therapy or counseling. Again, listening to Marriage IQ podcast, reading some books, or even leaving the toxic relationship can be the healthier choice. There's a study from 2019 by Elizabeth Lawrence from UNLV that showed that happy marriages really do matter. Compared to individuals who said they were very happy in marriage, those checked the box that they were not happy in marriage were over twice as likely to report worse health circumstances and almost 40% more likely to die in the follow up period. I think this study was a longitudinal study that went over about 14 years and that took into consideration socioeconomic status, geographic location, religious factors.[00:23:51 - 00:23:52]
So they tease all that out.[00:23:52 - 00:23:53]
So we have an even playing field.[00:23:54 - 00:23:57]
When we're looking at the just looking at happy marriages versus unhappy marriages.[00:23:57 - 00:24:06]
Right. And there was a really good study I looked at that showed the benefit of physical touch on our mental health. So just having somebody to give us.[00:24:06 - 00:24:07]
A hug, I know what it does.[00:24:07 - 00:24:11]
To my mental health can really be an improvement for our mental mental health.[00:24:11 - 00:24:28]
Another study by Robles in 2015 showed that people in high quality marriages had measurably better health and lower mortality risk than those in low quality marriages. It was similar in magnitude to well known health factors like diet or exercise.[00:24:28 - 00:25:10]
So when we're interpreting all of these studies, Scott, on marriage and on health, we need to remember that they often assume average marriage quality. If you have a rock solid, loving marriage, you're likely to reap more of the health benefits that we discussed. If you're in a really tumultuous type of a marriage, those rewards could disappear or even turn into risks. So that is a big caveat here. Marriage itself isn't a guarantee of good health. And so we really need to express that. And also, if you have a really good marriage, it's not necessarily a guarantee that you will never have really chronic health problems.[00:25:10 - 00:25:35]
I think what we're seeing here is that marriage in and of itself is a protective benefit, but a healthy marriage has more of a protective benefit. And if you're single and you have good relationships, that might be more of a protective benefit than just being married. So that brings us all back to correlation versus causation.[00:25:35 - 00:25:37]
We talk about that a lot on marriage.[00:25:37 - 00:25:49]
What came first, the chicken or the egg? So does marriage really make people healthier or do healthy people get married at higher rates? Okay, yes and yes.[00:25:50 - 00:25:50]
Okay.[00:25:51 - 00:26:05]
Health and wealth can affect your chances of getting married. That's just reality. For example, someone in poor health might have a harder time finding a marriage partner, while someone healthier, more vibrant may find it easier to marry.[00:26:05 - 00:26:06]
Okay.[00:26:06 - 00:26:13]
This can be called the classic selection bias, where you're only Looking at healthy people who are getting married.[00:26:14 - 00:26:14]
Yeah.[00:26:15 - 00:27:31]
Most researchers conclude that both things are happening. Part of the marriage health link is because people are healthier and more stable individuals. And part is because just by being married itself provides the support and resources that improve health. And so to really untangle it, scientists use advanced methods. For instance, long term studies that follow the same people before and after marriage. Like the studies done by Murray in 2000 and Gunner in 2020 that showed positive health effects that hold true even when comparing the same person at different times in their life when they were married or unmarried. Another study by Kravdahl in 2023 compared cohabiting unmarried people with married people and found that marriage in and of itself, with all other things being equal, may confer some mental health benefits over cohabiting. But unmarried counterparts, in short, marriage can cause some improvements. But it also matters who chooses to marry. And the timing, that's also very important.[00:27:31 - 00:27:32]
What do you mean?[00:27:32 - 00:27:41]
The timing when you are feeling healthy, when you are younger versus older and maybe more unhealthy. That may affect some things.[00:27:41 - 00:27:49]
Yeah. It might really weigh heavy on a marriage if there are a lot of health problems as they come into and.[00:27:49 - 00:28:16]
Then to come up later as you get older. So timing is important. And as you discussed earlier, people who are married longer over decades do tend to have health benefits. So. Yeah, okay. More than those who aren't. So we've talked about this throughout this episode about men benefiting more than women from marriage. Yeah, that's a gender gap.[00:28:16 - 00:28:41]
A recurring finding is that the health benefits of marriage are often, like we said, larger for men than they are for women. Married men see pretty big gains in health and longevity compared to single men. I think it's multifaceted. I think often men have women that cook more healthy meals for them that.[00:28:41 - 00:28:45]
They'Re cooking for them. They're doing their laundry, they're making sure they take their medicine. Is that what you're saying?[00:28:45 - 00:29:20]
I think they're healthier when they have a deep, intimate sexual relationship to help with stress relief and mental health, rather than some lifestyles that might be experienced by those who aren't married. Women, on average, do have a smaller health advantage when they're married than single women do. Divorced or separated men in particular have significantly higher risk of things like cardiovascular and cancer mortality compared to divorced women.[00:29:21 - 00:29:22]
Why do you think this would be?[00:29:22 - 00:29:24]
What? I don't know. What do you think this is?[00:29:24 - 00:29:29]
I think that women tend to have broader social networks.[00:29:29 - 00:29:31]
You're probably right on that.[00:29:31 - 00:29:50]
Men tend to maybe Be a little bit more individualistic. Not trying to stereotype here, but over 51% of men will probably tend to be more individualistic. Women, 50 or more percent tend to have support networks and groups.[00:29:50 - 00:30:03]
So I find that younger men are on sports teams and things like that, but when their bodies aren't really in shape to play sports anymore, I wonder if some of those social networks start to disappear.[00:30:04 - 00:30:14]
That's a good question. Well, let's wrap this all up here. A final thought. What do you think, Heidi, about love, marriage and health?[00:30:15 - 00:30:35]
I think at the end of the day, marriage is the most important form of social connection. And as humans, we're very social creatures. A lot of the health benefits that we see from marriage just simply stem from the power of not being alone in life.[00:30:36 - 00:30:36]
Indeed.[00:30:37 - 00:31:12]
But like we talked about several times, quality matters more than just checking a box on a form. A loving marriage can be the best way to protect our health. We here@marriage IQ are trying to give you the tools, using scientific research for the ways intelligent and scintillating spouses can help each other with mental health, with intimacy. Yet a single life with supportive friends can also mediate some of that bad stuff. And just a reminder that a bad marriage can be worse for health than no marriage at all.[00:31:12 - 00:31:44]
This is one of those episodes where we can really be intentional with the knowledge that we've gained today, knowing that marriage in and of itself can help us become healthier. Healthy people do get married more often. And really healthy marriages, happy marriages, have the best health outcomes. So let's become more intentional in our marriages. Do all the things that we've talked about in other episodes about becoming intentional?[00:31:44 - 00:32:06]
I would add to that, becoming really intentional about having positive health practices like exercising, doing it together when we can, even if it's just going on walks, getting fresh air, being in the sunshine, getting that vitamin D, working together outside in the yard, being on a sports team together, anything like that.[00:32:06 - 00:32:28]
And healthy eating, making healthy food choices, and insight. What you've learned today, what are you going to take from this and learn from it and change the way that you live? You have one life, you're an intelligent spouse, Live it intelligently. And with that, we hope you have.[00:32:28 - 00:32:32]
A great week, good health and happiness to all of you.[00:32:33 - 00:32:33]
Bye.
