From Cancer to Heart Disease, the benefits of marriage - 8/26/08

[Smartmarriages]

Nothing very new to this list, but nice to be reminded.... - diane

>From Cancer to Heart Disease, the Amazing, Life-Saving Benefits of Marriage
The Daily Mail (UK)
By Roger Dobson
26th August 2008

So-called 'smug marrieds' may actually have a scientific basis for extolling
the benefits of stepping down the aisle.

New research shows that not only does having a good marriage keep you
healthy, it can also prolong life by up to five years.

It's long been reported that those in a good relationship have a lower risk
of high blood pressure, but now studies are finding that couples enjoying
wedded bliss seem to experience lower levels of heart disease, cancers, flu,
Alzheimer's, depression and stress.

They also have fewer illnesses and infections, and when they do get ill they
spend less time in hospital and recover more quickly.
Couple

Exactly how these benefits are brought about is still not clear, although
there are a number of theories. And just how beneficial tying the knot can
be can depend on whether you are male or female and how happy your
relationship is.

Here we look at how scientists believe marriage may play a part in our
experience of some of the most common medical conditions.

PROSTATE CANCER   
Men diagnosed with prostate cancer survive longer if they are married,
according to a study by the University of Miami based on 146,979 patients.

Average survival time for married men was 69 months compared with 38 months
for separated and widowed patients, after taking into account differences in
age, the stage of the disease and the type of treatment.

One explanation is that companionship and all that flows from a happy
relationship makes longer survival more likely. Another theory is that
married men are likely to have sex more frequently, which has been shown to
be associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer.

ALZHEIMER'S 
Married people, and others who live with partners in middle age, have a 50
per cent lower risk of dementia, according to the results of a 21-year study
of 1,449 people by Sweden's Karolinska Institutet.

The protective effect remained even after allowing for other factors
including education, obesity, occupation, age and gender.

People who had been single all their life had a doubled risk of dementia,
and divorcees who remained single had a tripled risk.

Those widowed in middle age and who did not remarry had a six-times-higher
risk of developing dementia compared with those who re-married.

Social relationships are known to be health boosters, as friends are thought
to encourage each other to look after their health and ease depression and
anxiety. 

The higher risk for the widowed and divorced also may be linked to the
stressful effects of losing a partner and that, in turn, could increase
vulnerability to disease.

FLU 
Influenza may seem a very real phenomenon in many married households, but
those who have stepped down the aisle officially have a lower risk of flu
than their single counterparts.

Research at the University of Birmingham based on 184 people showed there
was a greater antibody response to the flu vaccine in married men and women,
possibly because their immune systems were more effective.

HEART DISEASE 
Not only is the risk of heart disease lower in married couples, but survival
chances are better for them when the disease is diagnosed. Stress - a risk
factor in heart disease - is thought to be lower in married couples than
their single friends.

Research has shown that married men are more likely to exercise and to have
a healthier diet - which both improve heart health. Survival after diagnosis
may also be influenced by lower levels of depression and anxiety among
married people. 

A study at the University of Newcastle, Australia, showed that unmarried men
were at a higher risk of a heart attack than married men of the same age.
And research at the University of Maryland in America showed that married
men were only half as likely to die during the 10 years after a diagnosis of
a heart problem as unmarried men.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh also found that men in happy
marriages have less thickening of the arteries.

One theory is that lower levels of stress in marriage may be protective,
while another is that people in relationships, especially happy ones, are
more likely to have healthy diets and lifestyles.

BLOOD PRESSURE 
How your blood pressure is affected by marriage depends very much on the
state of your relationship.

Married men and women have lower blood pressure if they have a good
relationship with their spouse, according to a study at George Washington
University in America. A happy relationship was also associated with less
depression and greater satisfaction with life.

But unhappily married couples had higher blood pressure than single people.
The suggestion is that people in happy relationships are less stressed, and
it is known that stress increases blood pressure.

WOUND HEALING 
If you cut your finger making the evening meal tonight, your wound is likely
to heal much faster if you are happily married than if your relationship is
in trouble.

Research at Ohio State University College of Medicine, based on married
couples aged 22 to 77, showed that wounds healed 40 per cent more slowly in
people in an unhappy relationship.

Differences in the body's immune system responses may be responsible, but
how a happy marriage affects that is not clear, although lower levels of
stress may be implicated.

DEPRESSION 
Men and women who are divorced, widowed or who have never married have
higher levels of depression, and have lower physical activity than those who
are married, according to a study based on 2,000 twins at the University of
Southern Denmark.

Another study at Ohio University showed that depressed people who remarried
were less depressed than those who stayed single.

The researchers claim being married boosts mood and gives stability, whereas
single people are more prone to loneliness, a cause of depression.

Married people also have the lowest rates of suicide, according to an
Italian National Institute of Health study. Those most at risk are divorced
and separated men and women under 64.

One possibility is that companionship leads to a sharing of problems which
then seem more in perspective.

MORTALITY 
Several studies have shown that being married can extend life, especially
for men. Estimates of the additional years range from one to five, but most
show that for men the effect is considerable.

But the news is not always so clear cut for women, who do not seem to gain
as many benefits from their partnerships.

A Chicago University report says that married men live, on average, 10 years
longer than unmarried men, and married women live about four years longer
than single women.

One theory is that married men live longer because they adopt less risky and
more healthy lifestyles. Married women may live longer due to improved
combined financial well-being.

But one Swiss study suggests that being married may shorten a woman's life
by more than a year.

While they found that marriage helps husbands to live on average an extra
1.7 years, it knocks 1.4 years off the average woman. Just why is not clear,
but one theory is that it may be due to the stress of living with a man.

AND THE BAD NEWS 
One of the few downsides of marriage is weight gain.

Research reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says
that it can add around 5 lbs and increase the waist size.

Couples adopting their partner's diet or a post-wedding dip in dietary
discipline may be implicated.

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