Tag Archives: marriage benefits

Marriage offers proven benefits to both men and women

wedding ring morguefileAs fewer Americans are choosing to wed, a common discussion is why committed couples should marry rather than simply live together. Outside of religious reasons, people often focus on the benefits of children with married parents. This is valid, as children and adolescents are shown to have myriad advantages.

However, it’s also important to point out that men and women enjoy a long list of proven benefits when they marry instead of merely cohabitating. Even when a couple does not have children, a marriage protects them and strengthens them as individuals and as a family unit.

Married women generally enjoy the following (as compared with unmarried peers):
*More satisfying relationships with their spouse/partner and children
*Greater emotional happiness with less depression
*More financial resources/less likely to end up in poverty
*Decreased risk of domestic violence, sexual assault, or other violent crimes
*Decreased risk of drug and alcohol abuse
*Better physical health
*Longer life

That’s all well and good for women, but why should men commit to marriage? Many benefits have also been proven for married men as compared with their unmarried peers. These include:
*Improved physical health
*Faster recuperation from illness
*Longer life
*Better emotional wellbeing
*Improved relationships with children
*More satisfying sexual relationship with their wives
*Higher wages and greater employment stability
*Decreased risk of drug and alcohol abuse
*Less likely to commit violent crimes
*Less likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease

If you are considering marriage or have children at that stage, don’t be fooled by cultural trends to avoid marriage because it’s “too risky”. If you think marriage is risky, the above lists should demonstrate that cohabitating or engaging in serial relationships also have risks and downsides.

What scares you the most about marriage? What is the best part of marriage? I would really like to hear your input on these two questions.

Photo courtesy of morguefile.com


Happy Relationships Create a Fountain of Youth

It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, except without the punch line. What do the Roman Catholic Church, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and prominent universities have in common? Answer: They have all studies and concluded that people in good, supportive relationships live longer and better lives, look younger, and are significantly healthier than those who are single or dating in bad relationships.

Let’s review. We’ve all heard that living longer, better, healthier lives is associated with good marriages. But LOOKING YOUNGER AND BETTER? Really? Now, they have our attention. Put those wrinkle creams away; you may have found a way to hold on to your youth. Read the details in this Huffington Post article.

The catch is that none of these groups have determined a universal reason for the positive side effects of good relationships. However, there are some working theories. One is that couples in strong relationships feel calmer and more relaxed. Their cortisol levels (a stress hormone) are reduced, along with their blood pressure. Reduced blood pressure has lots of health and wellbeing benefits. They add that having similar interests as your partner insulates you from most daily struggles. Couples seek to be happy together, and they have a better quality of life. In addition, intimate friendships with your mate along with great sex within a loving, adventurous, familiar partnership is also known to improve quality of life.

Whatever the reason, if you have a positive, loving marriage with your intimate partner, and enjoy a positive sex life, you may have found the way to look and feel younger. “The happiest and healthiest couples seem to have found an ageless life in their very own version of the Fountain of Youth,” says writer Kristen Houghton.

What do you think? Are the researchers just being mean to single people by saying we married folks have health, happiness—and now youthful looks as well? Or do you think there is something to the positive side effects of having a loving mate by your side?

Photo: ©Green308/PhotoXpress

Is Marriage Good for your Health?







For the adults:










Marital Status and Health: United States, 1999-2002.

Why Marriage Matters, Second Edition by Institute for American Values.
