London - If you've vowed to love someone in sickness and in health, it seems your own health will benefit.
Marriage is good for you, according to a major new study – and the effects are especially significant for men.
Even those who divorce will see their health improve again if they remarry, scientists found.
And the researchers said the positive effects of marriage remained clear after allowing for differences in wealth, class, health as children and educational achievements.
The study, by the Institute of Education at University College London, supports a series of analyses from around the world which have established that married people have better health and longer lives than those who do not tie the knot.
But it went into unprecedented detail to try to establish exactly why marriage makes a difference.
The report looked at more than 9 000 people who were born in March 1958 and took part for over 45 years in the British National Child Development Study. Between 2002 and 2004, their health, including brain activity and breathing function, was checked by nurses.
Researchers concluded that marriage was beneficial to health, and the healthiest women were those who married in their late 20s or early 30s and stayed married.
But the positive effects were even greater for men. The scientists also found that men’s health declines after divorce, but recovers if they remarry – although men who divorce in their late 30s are less likely to suffer poor health as a result.
The study, produced by a team headed by Dr George Ploubidis, supports research from 2011 that found the health of single men is likely to be worse because they do not have a partner to impress.
Other scientists have found that being single can knock years off your life – and suggested that those who don’t have a partner are more likely to skip breakfast, eat unhealthy meals on the go, work long hours and spend time drinking at the pub.
In the latest study, the researchers found that cohabiting couples had similar health to married couples, except that respiratory functions were worse in cohabiting men. They said further research was required to examine the different effects of marriage and cohabitation. The report said: “Never marrying or cohabiting was negatively associated with health in midlife for both genders, but the effect was more pronounced in men.”
The researchers concluded that marriage had health benefits that could not be accounted for by wealth or background.
“Our finding that partnership status is associated with midlife health implies that this effect is independent of selection,” they said.
Daily Mail