Thursday, September 02, 2004
Being single a health hazard, says study
There’s some bad news for the Bridget Jones generation of 30-something single women (and their male counterparts). Being single is as bad for you as smoking - or worse.
News released this week from a research project which monitored the lifestyles of 10,000 adults across Britain over 10 years, revealed that men and women without a partner drink too much, skip meals, work too hard and lack the emotional stability enjoyed by those who get married. And they do not have an emotional confidant to share problems with.
Married couples, on the other hand, tend to have better diets and more comfortable homes. Children within a marriage are also thought to have a stabilising effect on the parents, whereas single people are likely to take more risks.
The researchers found that men who had never married or who were separated or divorced at the start of the research were 10 per cent more likely to die during the following eight years. Women who were single, separated or divorced at the start of the study had a 4.8 per cent greater risk of dying.
Professor Andrew Oswald, who led the research, said: "Marriage keeps you alive and the effect is remarkably large – about three extra years on average.�
There’s some bad news for the Bridget Jones generation of 30-something single women (and their male counterparts). Being single is as bad for you as smoking - or worse.
News released this week from a research project which monitored the lifestyles of 10,000 adults across Britain over 10 years, revealed that men and women without a partner drink too much, skip meals, work too hard and lack the emotional stability enjoyed by those who get married. And they do not have an emotional confidant to share problems with.
Married couples, on the other hand, tend to have better diets and more comfortable homes. Children within a marriage are also thought to have a stabilising effect on the parents, whereas single people are likely to take more risks.
The researchers found that men who had never married or who were separated or divorced at the start of the research were 10 per cent more likely to die during the following eight years. Women who were single, separated or divorced at the start of the study had a 4.8 per cent greater risk of dying.
Professor Andrew Oswald, who led the research, said: "Marriage keeps you alive and the effect is remarkably large – about three extra years on average.�
