Psychologists Say That A Solid Marriage Might Help You Live Longer

Jun 13, 2019 by apost team

When it comes to living a long life, there may be one secret formula that your doctor hasn’t told you about. You want to eat healthily and exercise, of course. But did you know that having a long and happy relationship with your significant other can significantly extend your life? Marriage can be the secret sauce to living a healthy and fruitful life.

This isn’t just a whimsical saying. This comes from an actual study that was featured in Health Psychology’s scientific journal entitled "Marital satisfaction and mortality in the United States adult population." This study was a follow-up to an original study that was done between 1978 and 2014. The study was a General Social Survey that focused on a group of more than 19,000 married people. It was a widespread study that interviewed people regarding various elements of their lives. One of those was marriage. The study took a deep dive into the subject of the quality of those people’s marriages.

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Psychologists looked back at the original study and they found something pretty incredible. The participants in the original study that stated they had either a very happy marriage or a pretty happy marriage were actually found to live longer lives than people who responded in the study that they weren’t so happy in their marriages. The study had no bias and it showed that a happy marriage can help people live more.

The people that reported they weren’t so happy in their marriages didn’t have such a long lifespan. The study's co-author Mark Whisman, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder, talked about the specific elements that people who reported happy marriages had.

First, people with happy marriages were found to have better physical health. They took better care of themselves and made more doctors’ visits. The study contributed this to having a significant other that encouraged them to take such good care of themselves.

The study also found that people in happy marriages have better overall mental health as well. It’s pretty obvious how having a loving, supportive partner leads to positive mental health. They received a strong flow of happiness from their partner that fueled their own. Additionally, people with a loving partner felt that they had more social support. This doesn’t simply relate to marriage. People that had strong friendships with supportive people were also found to live longer, according to Whisman.

This study is a testament to how important the choice you make in a long-term partner is. It shows exactly how choosing the right partner can increase your health and even extend your overall lifespan. If you’re considering marriage with your significant other, this article shows how it is the perfect time to think about what the long-term benefits of choosing the right person can be. After all, it doesn’t just affect your happiness, but it affects your health!

What do you think about a study that proves the health benefits of choosing the right person? Do you find this to be true? Let us know your thoughts and pass this on to all the happy couples you know out there. We always love hearing your comments to interesting stories like these!