Couples married to happiness

Want a happier spouse? Start by boosting your own happiness. So reports Miranda Hitti on WebMD Health News. The old saying about marriage that "what's good for the goose is good for the gander" is getting some scientific support. Cultivating your own happiness could make your spouse happier, too.

"A married man is significantly more satisfied with his life when his wife becomes more satisfied with hers, and vice versa," says British researcher Nick Powdthavee of the economics department at Britain's University of Warwick. In fact, the positive impact of having a happy spouse can offset major problems such as unemployment or hospitalization.

A married man is significantly more satisfied with his life when his wife becomes more satisfied with hers, and vice versa. Unmarried couples living together don't show the same pattern.

Powdthavee took information from the 1996-2000 British Household Panel Survey that included 9,700 married people and a further 3,300 unmarried people living with their partner. All were 16-65 years old. The survey's topics included life satisfaction, education, income, and health. Based on those answers, Powdthavee used a complicated mathematical formula and principles from psychology to parse the nitty-gritty details of happiness.

He found that in married couples, happiness can overflow from one spouse to their partner. When a husband or wife notches up their own happiness level, the positive impact on their spouse is big, says Powdthavee. How big? Here's how Powdthavee puts it:

"It is significantly greater than the effect of owning a house outright; it can completely offset the non-[financial] cost of unemployment; it is equal to not having to spend around two months in the hospital last year.

In other words, happiness can be contagious -- in a good way -- in marriage, even for a partner facing burdens. Of course, some people, by nature, are happier than others, and Powdthavee's research take that into account. Powdthavee concludes:

This paper has shown that married people have become more satisfied with their life over the years merely because their spouses have become happier with theirs.

However, there's a twist. The happiness data hinges on marriage. The same results weren't seen among unmarried couples who lived together, says Powdthavee.
The reasons for that aren't clear. Perhaps unmarried couples are less committed or tend to focus more on themselves, instead of on their partner's well-being over time, says Powdthavee. He says this is consistent with studies showing a higher break-up rate and eventual marriage failure by those cohabiting with a partner compared with a spouse. The findings were presented in Nottingham, UK, at the Royal Economic Society's annual conference.

Happy marriages = lower blood pressure

People who are happily married have lower blood pressure than those who are single or in an unhappy marriage, according to a study conducted by researchers from Brigham Young University.

Read more here.

Marriage: keeping you healthy

Married people are healthier than other adults. So concludes a report by the US National Center for Health Statistics based on a survey of more than 125,000 people. Says health statistician Charlotte Schoenborn:

Overall, this association between marital status and health persists regardless of socio-economic status, education and poverty, where people were born or their ethnicity. In general, married adults were the least likely to experience health problems and the least likely to engage in risky health behaviors, with the notable exception of being overweight.

According to a summary by CBS News, the report was based on a survey of 127,545 people in 1999-2002 conducted by the center, a part of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report continues:

In addition to reporting better health overall, the study found that married people said they had less low back pain, fewer headaches and less psychological stress. They also were less likely to drink and smoke and were more physically active than people in general. An association between marriage and health was first reported in the 1970s, and the relationship persists although much has changed since then.

The best stressbuster: marriage

Forget massages, hot baths and soothing music - the key to beating stress is as simple as a happy marriage. Research shows that being in a loving relationship makes it easier to cope with the stresses and strains of working life.

Contrary to the popular perception that single people have a carefree lifestyle, it is those who are in long-term relationships who are most laid back. The UK Daily Mail reports that Dr Roxane Gervais, a psychologist at the Health and Safety Laboratory, monitored the stress levels of more than 400 nurses working in Yorkshire hospitals. She found that those who were married, or in a steady relationship, were least affected by the strains of the job. According the newspaper:

The study is far from the first to show that marriage is good for health. Previous research has shown that those who marry are far more likely to live longer than those who never tie the knot. This could be because people who are married take better care of themselves, perhaps because they feel they have more to live for. They also benefit from the added support and from expanding their network of friends.

The break-up of a marriage, however, has the opposite effect, with women who divorce being 50 per cent more likely to develop heart disease in later life than those who stay married.

Marriage: good for your health

There are many good reasons to choose wisely and carefully when picking a spouse - not the least of which is that you'll be spending an awful lot of time with them in both the near and distant future, possibly even raising children together.

So you want to find someone with whom you are compatible, share values -- someone who makes you happy. But perhaps one of the most compelling reasons to make an informed choice is that your spouse can affect your physical health in very direct, measurable ways.

Check out these stats published by Associated Counsellors & Therapists, of Hermosa Beach, California. Included is the following quote from psychologist and author John Gottman, PhD:

The benefits are better physical health, more resistance to infection, fewer infections, and a reduced likelihood of dying from cancer, from heart disease, from all major killers.

The other health benefit is longevity: People live longer if they are in marital relationships, particularly if they are in good, satisfying relationships...

There are physical benefits and mental health benefits. You have less depression, less anxiety disorders, less psychosis, less posttraumatic stress disorders, fewer phobias. You also have fewer injuries due to accidents.

Gottman, considered by many to be a pioneer in the field of marriage research, is the James Mifflin Professor in the department of psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle. He and his wife Julie are directors of the Gottman Institute.

60% Unaware of partner's STD status

Sixty percent of people who have unprotected sex with a long-standing partner do not know whether they have been tested for sexually transmitted diseases(STDs), according to new research from the Royal College of Surgeons.

This survey, which interviewed heterosexual people aged between 18 and 29, found that 60% of people in steady relationships who do not use a condom do not know whether their partner has been tested for STIs.

Researcher Grainne Cousins said that this is particularly worrying in the light of an increase in what she called "serial monogamy".She said people in these relationships are often afraid to bring up questions about their partners' STI status.