For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as you both shall live. That's the usual agreement with marriage, but sometimes that isn't how it goes.
Not everyone gets married, and even those who do might end up getting divorced, but there is still a benefit to getting married. And no, I don't mean the tax breaks.
Researchers have found that marriage actually has a pretty interesting health benefit.
In a study of over two million people between the ages of 44 to 77, the medical journal discovered that people who were married were less likely to suffer from heart disease or strokes.
That's a pretty huge thing, because one in four deaths in America is related to heart disease, and there are roughly 795,000 people who suffer from strokes every year.
The study looked at people from all over the world, and found that the differences were pretty astounding.
People who are not married, whether they were divorced, widowed, or never married, were 42% more likely to develop cardiovascular disease.
Not only that, they are also 42% more likely to die because of a coronary-related disease, and their risk of death from a stroke is 55% more likely than those who are married.
The study was done by combining 34 different studies, and because of this it's hard to know how living in a committed relationship without being married would affect the rates, because it was not clearly identified in most of the studies.
The author of the study, Dr. Mamas, believes that there is a link to the relationship because of accountability.
"It is well known that patients are more likely to take important medications after an event such as a heart attack or a stroke if they are married, perhaps because of spousal pressure. Similarly, they are more likely to take part in rehabilitation which improves outcomes after strokes or heart attacks."
They also pointed out that having a person around you all the time helps to point out the early symptoms.
The one thing that isn't qualified in the study is the quality of the marriage, as it's kind of hard to qualify that for a survey, but the information they did find is still interesting.
Dr. Mamas pointed out that it might be beneficial because your spouse is likely the one to force you to seek medical attention.
"Being married makes people more likely to seek medical help. Often, particularly men say, "˜I noticed symptoms in my chest but I wasn't going to come "“ my wife made me.'"
It's kind of weird to think that married people have this extra super power that helps then fend of serious illnesses, but even if you don't want to get married there must be a way to mimic the effects. Spend plenty of time with your friends, and maybe you will be able to see the same benefits.
