With the thought of marriage, “change” is the next word that comes into our mind. Marriage is not just a relationship status changer; it is way more profound in impact. A lot of research on the effects of marriage on a relationship has concluded that it can have emotional, social, and physical impacts on a person. Your emotional health, your immunity, and even your heart health are determined by the kind of marriage you have. A good marriage has a positive health impact, and a bad marriage is full of stress and associated problems. Here are 15 surprising ways in which marriage affects health.
Regulating Stress
One of the most critical ways in which marriage, or should I say the quality of your marriage, impacts your own health is the ability to regulate stress. Increased stress is linked with high stress responses and the release of stress hormones, also commonly known as cortisol. An emotionally available and good life partner helps bring down your stress level, and hence, there’s a drop in the level of stress hormone. With less cortisol, there is a reduction in inflammatory processes in your body as it soothes your immune system and allows it to eliminate real health risks efficiently. It’s not just marriage that impacts your stress level, but the quality of your relationship with your partner that has the actual effects.
Supporting Heart Health
Another bonus of a good marriage is improved heart health, leading to reduced chances of heart issues. This statement is backed by research, as a lot of people who are facing relationship stress or are single are at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular health issues like hypertension, stroke, or cardiac arrest as compared to happily married couples.
Providing Emotional Support
A supportive life partner to lean on when you feel burned out or you are physically ill helps you recover faster and maintain overall health.
Encouraging Medical Checkups
Better cardiac screening and follow-ups are easier when a partner is involved in your life, helping you stay consistent with medical checkups and preventive measures.
Promoting Healthy Lifestyle Choices
Healthy joint lifestyles contribute to better fitness, diet, and physical well-being for both partners. You both serve as each other’s motivation to do better in life.
Increasing Life Expectancy
A very surprising discovery by researchers around the globe suggests that people in happy marriages outlive their unmarried or divorced peers. This is directly linked to emotional safety, early medical interventions, and physical support in the form of a partner, which leads to a higher life expectancy in married couples.
Becoming Health Partners
Consider each other not just your life partners but also your health partners, and make earnest efforts to motivate each other towards a healthy lifestyle. The more health-focused you get, the longer you both stay together.
Adopting Shared Habits
When two people share their lives and living space, they also adopt the same eating and fitness habits. These joint habits could be good ones that lead to an overall positive health impact, like maintaining fitness goals, eating healthy, and staying close to nature.
Avoiding Negative Habits
There could be some negative shared habits, like a sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy eating, or poor metabolic rate in your marriage. A lot of studies suggest that over time, the fitness levels and even metabolic patterns of the partners start to align. One such study showed that a high metabolic rate of one partner puts the other at a high risk of developing diabetes. Watch out for unhealthy habits and also discourage them in your partner. Work as a team to eliminate all negative habits from your life.
Supporting Mental Health
The effects of marriage are not just limited to physical health, but they also spill into the emotional and cognitive health realm. The emotional safety and stability in a marriage is seen to have a promising influence on the mental health as well as the cognitive health of the spouses.
Preventing Cognitive Decline
An unstable marriage can cause poor mental health and, in the long run, cognitive decline in partners of such a marriage. The way marriage impacts your emotional well-being is determined by the quality of your emotional connection with your partner. If your marriage is going through a rough patch, and it’s taking a toll on your mental health, it’s wise to go for couples counseling to rescue your peace of mind.
Determining Outcomes by Quality
As mentioned previously, it’s not about being married that makes the difference. It’s more about who you have married, or how you are married, that defines the quality of your marriage outcome. A good life partner and a healthy marriage have a positive health outcome. On the contrary, an emotionally unavailable partner and abusive marriage have a negative outcome, visible as high cortisol, compromised immunity, and a high risk of disease.
Active Involvement
Marriage requires active participation from both partners. Improving your connection, communication, and support enhances the positive health outcomes of marriage.
Realistic Expectations
Remember, marriage won’t work like a magic wand and bring forth all the positive health benefits; you have to improve your connection with your partner to reap the benefits of a healthy marriage.
Long-Term Partnership for Well-Being
Being married to a caring and supportive partner ensures you maintain better physical, mental, and emotional health throughout your life.
Final Thoughts
The key takeaway? Marriage does not naturally benefit you in the umpteen surprising ways just discussed here. A healthy marriage has a healthy outcome. Reduced heart attacks, reduced cortisol, improved mental health, and a strong immune system are the byproducts of a stable marriage. As a partner, consider your partner your partner in health as well. If you aren’t married yet, remember the key to a healthy life is a healthy marriage.
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