Happy Marriage and Blood Pressure

Happy Marriage and Blood Pressure

Happily married individuals may have lower blood pressure than single, unhappily married people.

While individuals "in happy marriages have lower blood pressure than single people,...unhappily married adults have higher blood pressure," according to a study published in the Apr. issue of the Annals of Behavioral Medicine. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Ph.D., an assistant psychology professor at Brigham Young University, and colleagues, "had 204 married and 99 single adults wear portable blood pressure monitors for 24 hours."

        The participants "wore devices that recorded their blood pressure at random times over 24 hours," . After analyzing the data, the researchers "found that the more marital satisfaction and adjustment spouses reported, the lower their average blood pressure was over the 24 hours, and during the daytime." But, "spouses who scored low in marital satisfaction had higher average blood pressure than single people did." Moreover, in "the daytime, their average was about five points higher."

        The authors stated that "Most prior research focused on marital status, and ignored the impact of the quality of relationships,"   "It's not just being married that benefits health. What's really the most protective of health is having a happy marriage."