For single men, it’s a different story.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Marriage has long been thought of a health booster, with many citing the longer lifespan and fewer emotional problems of couples who had wed. However, a new study by University College London that women may hardly benefit from engaging in holy matrimony.
The research conducted by University College London, the London School of Economics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found unmarried men suffered more negative health effects than single women.
But middle-aged women who had never wed before had about the same chance of developing a combination of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity, otherwise known as metabolic syndrome, as their married counterparts.
“Being married appears to be more beneficial for men,” Dr. George Ploubidis, a population health scientist at the UCL Institute of Education, told The Telegraph. “Not marrying or cohabiting is less detrimental among woman than men.”
The study, which analyzed information from more than 10,000 people born in England, Scotland, and Wales, found that divorce did not have a harmful impact on future health for either men or women as long as they found a new long-term partner.
“Previous research has also shown that men experience an initial decline after divorce, but we found that in the long term they tend to revert back to their pre-divorce health status, Ploubidis informed the Nottingham Post. “Surprisingly, those men who divorced in their late 30s and did not subsequently remarry, were less likely to suffer from conditions related to diabetes in early middle age compared to those who were married.”