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Marriage and How Your Spouse Affects Your Health

It turns out married men live longer than single men, but married women do not live longer than single women. The commitment of marriage plays a significant role in your mental and physical health. 

After all, you spend the majority of your time around another person. Their way of thinking and habits will influence your life. 

The hope is to experience positive effects from your marriage. Keep reading to find a few different ways your spouse may be influencing your health for better or worse. 

They Are an Optimist 

We are going to start with a positive influence your spouse may have on your health. If your significant other is an optimist, you benefit by having more mobility and fewer chronic illnesses. 

This effect happens regardless of your level of optimism. The theory is that the positive thinking partner influences the other to eat better, exercise, and have a better outlook on life overall

They Work Long Hours 

This is a tricky one to define because men that work more than 40 hours tend to have wives who are in better health than men who work 9 to 5. The trend seemed to work in the opposite direction for women who worked a lot though. 

Men whose wives worked 40 hours a week tended to be in worse health than those whose wives worked less. 

They Help out 

If your spouse doesn’t help out around the house, it could cause you to have increased levels of calcium buildup in your arteries. This is a predictor of heart disease. 

Some researchers think that the perceived lack of support leads to increased feelings of stress. So while it isn’t necessarily the lack of help, but their lack of emotional support that is detrimental to your health. 

If your spouse isn’t supportive, then you and your spouse could benefit from marriage counseling. By improving the communication between the two of you, you can also enhance the level of support you feel from your significant other. 

They Diet with You 

It may seem like a great idea to diet together. After all, you can make a New Years resolution together and motivate each other, right? Wrong. 

Studies have shown that when romantic partners decide to diet and lost weight together, one partner loses weight, and the other doesn’t. There is always one person who loses weight and gets in shape faster. 

The problem with this is that the other lagging partner becomes less confident in their efforts. The ability to portion food correctly become an issue which ultimately leads to weight gain for the one partner. 

They Avoid Touch and Intimacy 

Usually, your partner’s touch will decrease your pain. There is a connection between the positive connection you have with your partner and the decrease in pain experienced. 

However, it doesn’t work this way for everyone. When your partner tends to avoid intimacy and closeness, their touch can increase the pain you experience. 

Is Your Marriage Bad for Your Health?

Did you read through this list and realize your spouse has a negative influence on your health? Then it is time to make some changes in your marriage.

Even if you and your partner only have positive effects on each other’s health, some influences can start healthy and turn toxic if taken too far. Codependency is a perfect example of this. 

Improve your codependency issues with these 5 practical tips

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