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Happily Marrieds have lower Blood
Pressure than Social Singles
Newswise — New research
shows that happily married adults have lower
blood pressure than singles with supportive
social networks, suggesting marriage may
literally be a matter of the heart.
Brigham Young
University professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad
found that men and women in happy marriages
scored four points lower on 24-hour blood
pressure than single adults.
Having a
network of supportive friends did not
translate into improved blood pressure for
singles or unhappily marrieds, which
surprised Holt-Lunstad and her two student
collaborators.
“There seem to be some
unique health benefits from marriage,” said
Holt-Lunstad, whose findings will be
published March 20 in the Annals of
Behavioral Medicine. “It’s not just
being married that benefits health - what’s
really the most protective of health is
having a happy marriage.”
The study also found,
unsurprisingly, that unhappily married
adults have higher blood pressure than both
happily married and single adults.
Holt-Lunstad, a
psychologist who studies relationships and
health, arranged for 204 married and 99
single adults to wear portable blood
pressure monitors, mostly concealed by their
clothes, for 24 hours.
The monitors recorded
blood pressure at random intervals
throughout the day – even while participants
slept. Each participant’s blood pressure
level was recorded about 72 times.
“We wanted to capture
participants’ blood pressure doing whatever
they normally do in everyday life,” Holt-Lunstad
said. “Getting one or two readings in a
clinic is not really representative of the
fluctuations that occur throughout the day.”
All participants
completed a roster of friends in their
social network and answered questions about
the quality of those relationships. Married
participants also completed questionnaires
on the quality of the relationship with
their spouses.
With the monitors
recording blood pressure both day and night,
the researchers could see that blood
pressure for married adults – especially
those happily married – dipped more during
sleep than happens with singles.
“Research has shown
that people whose blood pressure remains
high throughout the night are at much
greater risk of cardiovascular problems than
people whose blood pressure dips,” Holt-Lunstad
said.
Holt-Lunstad said that
spouses can promote healthy habits, such as
encouraging each other to see a doctor and
to eat healthy. The marriage relationship is
also a source of emotional support in good
and bad times. Sharing good news, for
example, generates positive emotions, which
in turn boosts the body’s functioning.
The study was funded by
the Anthony Marchionne Foundation, which
supports research on the well-being of the
never-married. Funding also came from BYU’s
Family Studies Center.
A next step in the
research for Holt-Lunstad is to study
couples participating in marriage counseling
to see if improvement in the marriage
translates into improved health.
The two co-authors on
the study, Wendy Birmingham and Brandon
Jones, worked on the project as
undergraduate students at BYU. Jones is now
in medical school at George Washington
University, while Birmingham is now pursuing
a Ph.D. in social psychology with an
emphasis in behavioral medicine at the
University of Utah.
The study is titled “Is
There Something Unique about Marriage? The
Relative Impact of Marital Status,
Relationship Quality, and Network Social
Support on Ambulatory Blood Pressure and
Mental Health.
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