Men With More Than One Wife Live Longer

For some people marriage is life's No. 1 priority, while some others think marriage will make them unhappy. Now, a new study has suggested that the secrets of happiness and longevity are hidden in a marriage, especially in polygamy (having more than one wife at the same time).

The study, conducted by the researchers from the U.K.'s University of Sheffield, suggests that the sure shot way to live a longer life is: marriage to more than one spouse at a time. The researchers found in their study that men from polygamous cultures (having more than one mate) outlive those from monogamous culture (in which one man is united with one woman).

To reach their conclusion, Virpi Lummaa, an ecologist at the University of Sheffield, UK and colleague Andy Russell looked at men older than 60 from 140 countries that practice polygamy.

After accounting for socioeconomic differences, men from polygamist cultures lived an average of 12 percent longer than men who limited their affections to one woman at a time.

Lummaa and Russell presented their findings last week at the International Society for Behavioral Ecology’s annual meeting in Ithaca, New York.

According to Lummaa, the explanation could be both social and genetic. Men who father children in the 60’s and 70’s take better care of themselves because of their dependents, according to a New Scientist report.

But, it’s also possible that conversely evolutionary forces acting over thousands of years could also account for longer-lived men in polygamous cultures, the report said.

"If anything the presence of a grandfather was associated with decreased survival of grandchildren," New Scientist quoted lead researcher Lummaa, as saying.

Chris Wilson, an evolutionary anthropologist from Cornell University in New York who attended the talk called the findings “a valid hypothesis and good prediction." He agreed there could be benefits to being surrounded by women in old age.

"It doesn't surprise me that men in those societies live longer than men in monogamous societies, where they become widowed and have nobody to care for them."

Echoing Chris Wilson’s opinion, Lance Workman, an evolutionary psychologist at Bath Spa University, said: “If you have got more wives to look after you, they might fuss over you and that might help you live longer. We know that in monogamous societies married men live longer than bachelors.”