Lifelong marriage is the key to good health

However, the study suggests that losing a partner can have a damaging impact on the health.

Previous studies have also shown that married people enjoy a better health as compared to singles. But the latest research also suggests that the health benefits linked with marriage could soon be a thing of the past.

Married people enjoy a healthy life
As far as the latest study is concerned, researchers found out that middle-aged and older Americans who were presently married were healthier than their single counterparts. Not only this, they were also less likely to suffer from depression.

But, also a decline in the health conditions of widowed and divorced adults was reported, especially a dip in the chronic health conditions was seen.

The researchers wrote in the Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, “Previously married people experience, on average, 20 percent more conditions and 23 percent more limitations.”

Marrying again did seem to uplift the health of the divorcees and those widowed. But again, these men and women were not as hale and hearty as those people who were in a lasting marriage.

Researcher Linda J. Waite, a professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, said, “We argue that losing a marriage through divorce or widowhood is extremely stressful and that a high-stress period takes a toll on health.”

Waite further explained, “Think of health as money in the bank. Think of a marriage as a mechanism for ‘saving’ or adding to health. Think of divorce as a period of very high expenditures.”

The latest study results are based on the statistics collected from more than 9,100 Americans who were aged 50 and above. These people had taken part in a national health survey done in 1992.

Out of these, 55 percent had been always married, four percent had never tied the knot, and all the other had either been divorced or were widowed at least once.

Researchers found that marital history was an important factor even when the age, race, sex and the education of volunteers was taken into account.

But it is to be noted that just by staying married one cannot be stay healthier.

Study limitations
The negative point of this study was that it did not provide a detail of the marital quality.

Previous studies have brought to light the fact that people in unhappy marriages tend to be at a higher risk of developing problems such as high blood pressure, depression and heart disease.