Happy Marriage Predicts Happy Heart

MarioB. · Newbie Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Posts: 137

Brigham Young University study shows the benefits of happy marriage on people’s health. Happily married people were found to have lower blood pressures than unhappy married people and singles.

It doesn’t seem to be about supportive social network but rather to emotional support and possibly stability as supportive social network in singles or unhappy married people didn’t have any benefits for the blood pressure of these individuals.

Marriage seems to have some unique benefits on health. But just being married won’t protect your health but being happily married will.

The researchers included 204 married and 99 single adults and asked them to wear portable blood-pressure monitors for 24 hours. These monitors were meant to record blood pressure at random intervals and provided a total of about 72 readings as clinical readings wouldn’t be representative of the throughout-the-day blood pressure fluctuations.
Four points lower were recorded on the blood pressure readings of the happily married people in comparison to single adults. The blood pressure of the “lucky” ones also lowered during sleep which is crucial for lowering the risks of cardiovascular problems.

Those people whose blood pressure remained high throughout the night were found to be at much greater risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Additionally, high blood pressures of the unhappy married individuals were higher than the blood pressures of both happy married ones and singles.
Researchers believe that spouses encourage healthy habits in each another in regards to nutrition and having regular doctor visits. Emotional support seems to be another important factor for the healthy heart.

Happy Marriage Predicts Happy Heart

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