Forty years ago, a study called the Hammond Report analyzed the smoking habits of half a million people. Its conclusion: smoking is dangerous to one’s health. It was a warning that ended up on every pack of cigarettes sold. Ten years later, a researcher took another look at the Hammond Report and found something that had been overlooked — something just as hazardous as a pack-a-day cigarette habit: divorce.
As Maggie Gallagher writes in her book, The Case for Marriage, an enterprising Surgeon General might wish to slap a warning label on, say, condom packages or divorce decrees, reading, “Not being married can be hazardous to your health.” In sickness and health — that’s what couples vow on their wedding day. But research is proving that those who get and stay married can count on much better health than those who don’t.
How much better? Gallagher found that divorced, single, and widowed people are “far more likely to die from all causes,” including heart disease, stroke, car accidents, murder, and suicide. As for cancer, being married dramatically increases the odds of survival. “Even sick people who marry live longer than their counterparts who don’t [marry],” writes Gallagher.
This happens in part because when people get married, they typically adopt a healthier lifestyle. Men especially give up what Gallagher calls “stupid bachelor tricks.” They give up drinking and driving, fighting at bars, and abusing drugs, she says. Wives not only discourage such behavior, they also improve their husband’s health by cooking them healthy meals, encouraging regular sleep, and scheduling doctor appointments for them.
The nagging works both ways: husbands can improve their wives’ health by encouraging them to give up smoking and getting regular exercise. The emotional support a spouse can supply means that spouses recover more quickly when illness strikes, and this emotional support boosts the immune system. Recent divorce, on the other hand, is known to lower immune functioning.
Even monogamous marital sex can help couples ward off illness, Gallagher writes. These health benefits come about because marriage seems “to provide individuals with a sense of meaning in their lives,” according to Gallagher. “A wife feels licensed to nag in a way that a girlfriend does not, precisely because both the wife and the husband know their lives are intertwined.”
And a husband is more likely to listen because he knows his wife and children depend on him.
This sense of responsibility distinguishes marriage from cohabitation. If marriage really were “just a piece of paper,” as some people claimed during the sixties, those who cohabit should enjoy the same health benefits as do the married. But they don’t. They aren’t sure if they’ll be spending their lives with their current live-in partner — so they don’t feel as responsible for their well-being.
As Christians, we urge people to marry instead of cohabit and to stay married because God commands it. Because once again, scientific evidence is backing up the wisdom of biblical commands. And it’s a wisdom we ought to share with our friends — especially those who are thinking of cohabiting — or dumping their spouse.
We ought to let them know that anything other than faithful, loving marriage can be dangerous to their health.
For further reference:
Gallagher, Maggie and Linda J. Waite. The Case for Marriage: What Married People are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially. New York: Doubleday, 2000.
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Copyright (c) 2001 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. “BreakPoint with Chuck Colson” is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.
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