Word: stress
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...watch-your-cholesterol lifestyle safeguards spouses erect around each other, much of what makes marriage so healthy for us takes place within our own bodies, entirely without our knowledge. A lot of those benefits come down to stress--or, specifically, the management of it. Stress puts into motion a biological cascade involving hormones, glands and neural circuits, all activating one another in a complex feedback loop. When you are stuck in traffic or overwhelmed at work or worn down by the kids, the hypothalamus--a structure buried deep in the midbrain--tells your adrenal gland to pump out a supply...
...rate and respiration, tensing your muscles and generally cranking up your body's alert level. But such an energy-intensive system is designed to be used only in brief bursts; you either escape the bear or you get eaten by it, but either way the crisis ends. The daily stresses of the modern world can throw our bodies into emergency mode and keep us there. That takes a toll through high blood pressure, tension headaches and a lot of gnawed pencils. "If you're chronically releasing stress hormones, your body starts to fall apart," says Coan. "Ultimately, you're going...
...this is especially good news for men. A study published in the January 2008 issue of the journal Health Psychology showed that while married men get relief from their workday barrage of stress hormones when they come home after a particularly busy day at work--perhaps benefiting from the same marital proximity the women in the fMRI study enjoyed--working women are able to de-stress similarly only if they describe their marriage as a happy...
Data also show that the stress of a bad marriage can undo much of the good that comes with a happy one. In a series of studies, Kiecolt-Glaser and her husband, immunologist Ronald Glaser, also of the Ohio State University College of Medicine, found that "negative marital interactions," such as arguments, name-calling and nonverbal cues like eye-rolling lead to increases in cortisol and decreases in immune function and even wound-healing. The effects were observed in both sexes, but particularly strongly in women. The eye-rolling studies go even deeper than that, with related research conducted...
Certainly not all suddenly single spouses are fated to languish this way--no more than all people who never pair off are destined for a shortened life filled with illness and stress. Humans are socially resourceful creatures who build and rebuild networks of relationships, getting the attention, hand-holding and even scolding they need in a lot of different ways. Still, it's hard to argue with an institution that keeps a companion and caretaker constantly nearby, even if now and again--when a wet towel has once again been dropped on the floor or a tube of toothpaste...