After conducting a study, experts found that people that are married enjoy better physical and mental health when compared to unmarried people.
Married people are not happier but also healthier, researchers from the University of Missouri have found. According to an expert from the University, married people are physically and mentally healthier than people who are not married. Through the study experts found that people who are happily married enjoy better health as they age and people who have health issues due to an unhappy married life could begin working on their marriage to improve their health.
Christine Proulx, an assistant professor in the MU Department of Human Development and Family Studies, examined many long-term relationships and found that through all stages of a marriage, positive and negative experiences directly affect a person's health.
"We often think about the aging process as something we can treat medically with a pill or more exercise, but working on your marriage also might benefit your health as you age," Proulx said. "Engaging with your spouse is not going to cure cancer, but building stronger relationships can improve both people's spirits and well-being and lower their stress."
Proulx also advises health professionals to consider their patient's personal relationships before subscribing them to any health benefiting programs. "Physicians should recognize that the strength of patients' marriages might affect their health," she said. "I suspect we'd have higher rates of adherence to treatment plans for chronic illnesses if medical professionals placed more of an emphasis on incorporating families and spouses in patients' care. If spouses understand their partners' disease and how to treat it at home, and the couple has a strong marriage, both people's health could improve."
The study has been titled "The Longitudinal Associations between Marital Happiness, Problems, and Self-Rated Health," and will be published in the upcoming issue of the Journal of Family Psychology.
