Have you wondered what makes people live long healthy lives? Is it the lifestyle they choose or the food they eat? Is it the routine they follow or the way they opt for self-care? Well, turns out, the key to living a long and healthy life actually depends on whether your spouse is happy. Yes, you read that right. A new study has found that the happier your partner is, the more likely you are to live a healthier life.
"The data shows that spousal life satisfaction was associated with mortality, regardless of individual ' socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, or their physical health status," said study author Olga Stavrova. So, the happier your partner is, the more likely it is for your marriage to last longer and for the two of you to lead long, healthy lives. The researchers surveyed around 4,400 US couples aged over 50 for the study. It was then found that happy spouses were a better predictor of a person's health than his own life satisfaction.
"The findings underscore the role of individuals' immediate social environment in their health outcomes. Most importantly, it has the potential to extend our understanding of what makes up individuals' 'social environment' by including the personality and well-being of individuals' close ones," said Stavrova. "People who have a happy, active spouse, for example, are likely to have an active lifestyle themselves," noted Stavrova.
"If your partner is depressed and wants to spend the evening eating chips in front of the TV -- that's how your evening will probably end up looking, as well." The researchers found that greater partner satisfaction resulted in lower mortality risk for an individual.
