Friday, June 03, 2005

Get Married - Live Longer?

Studies show that married men live longer and healthier lives overall. And if they are diagnosed with a sickness like prostate cancer, they are more likely to recover as some studies show? Could the same be said for women especially if they develop a disease like breast cancer? Any studies out there?

These various studies fail to consider if these married men had children or not. While having kids is certainly rewarding, it is filled with a lot of stress and the majority of men still bear the responsibility as bread winners. This is not to say to underscore the increasing role that women play in society, but since men still tend to be the head of the household, the stress of raising a family should have been considered as one of the factors determining whether married men do indeed lead happier and healthier lives compared with single men. They fail to consider how much of the stress that is attributed to having children leads to all sorts of diseases in men such as high blood pressure, obesity, and hypertension. Moreover, the same characteristics should also be applied to whether married women lead better lives. While the lack of companionship and thus utter loneliness does lead to all kinds of diseases especially depression, such research studies still lack sufficient evidence and need further examination.

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