Is it true that married couples healthier than singles?
There is an assumption that married couples are healthier and happier. Meanwhile, single people tend to feel lonely and are more at risk of disease. Is that right?
According to research, married couples are at lower risk for depression and several types of diseases than single people. Even so, actually, this depends on the health condition of each person and also the relationship of each partner.
Various Benefits of Getting Married
In general, the benefits of being married that have a particularly positive impact on their health include:
Healthier physically and mentally
Healthy lifestyle experts recommend marriage as a way to live healthier, not only physically, but also mentally. Interaction with a partner can reduce the stress hormone cortisol and generate the love hormone oxytocin, which causes arousal and a sense of calm.
Get support
A healthy marriage will make a person feel that he always has emotional support whenever needed.
More careful
Married couples also tend to think twice about doing risky actions, such as driving at high speeds or continuing the habit of consuming alcohol.
Better financial condition
After marriage, a better economic level makes married couples more able to access good health facilities, healthy food, and live in a cleaner environment.
Easily accepted by others
Most married couples are also more acceptable in social interactions. Having a partner can also make a person feel more confident about entering new environments and situations.
However, this does not mean that single or divorced people cannot be as healthy or happy as married people. Single people don’t always experience loneliness. Support for singles can come from friends, family, coworkers, even pets.
Marriage Can Also Cause Health Risks
In fact, marriage is not a “guarantee” of health if one or both partners are:
Not prioritizing personal health too much
A study found the body weight and systolic blood pressure of married women tended to be higher. Meanwhile, women who are divorced are more active in exercising and adopting a healthy lifestyle, so that their body mass index, waist circumference, and diastolic blood pressure are lower. Are married couples healthier than singles? From this, it can be concluded that single women can focus more on their own health, while married women tend to prioritize the health of their partners.
Relationships with partners are not always good
A bad marriage situation makes a person even more at risk of stress, which in the long run can harm his health. In addition, a marriage that ends in divorce can also have a negative impact on health.
In the end, a healthy person means being physically and mentally healthy as well. How a person maintains the quality of his life and his relationships with other people can determine his happiness and health.
So actually, whether you are married or single, you can still be healthy and happy by adopting a healthy lifestyle and managing stress well. If you find it difficult to face problems, both in achieving happiness for yourself and with your partner, don’t hesitate to consult a psychologist for the best solution.