Research has found that married people are healthier than those who are single, divorced or widowed.
Recent research at Carnegie Mellon University provides the first biological evidence to explain how marriage impacts health.
Researchers have shown that married individuals have lower levels of the stress hormone Cortisol than those who never married, or were previously married.
Unmarried people seem to face more psychological stress than married individuals.
Prolonged stress, due to increased levels of Cortisol, can interfere with the body’s ability to regulate inflammation; so, promoting the development of many diseases.
Brian Chin, a Ph.D. student in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences Department of Psychology said: “It’s exciting to discover a physiological pathway that may explain how relationships influence health and disease.”
Cortisol levels tend to peak when a person wakes up and decline during the course of the day. Saliva tests carried out on healthy adults showed that the Cortisol level of married individuals declined faster, something which is associated with less heart disease and longer survival among cancer patients.
References:
Married People Have Lower Levels of Stress Hormone