LONDON (Reuters Health) - Marriage seems to be so good for men's health that married men are less likely to die in a given period than their single counterparts, according to British researchers.

Professor Andrew Oswald and Dr. Jonathan Gardner from the department of economics at Warwick University looked at data on more than 12,000 adults from the British Household Survey and the British Retirement Survey.

Factoring out influences such as smoking and drinking, married men were 6.1% less likely to die over a 7-year period than single men, they found. Women benefited less from marriage, with their death risk dropping just 2.9%.

Researchers have often found that married men and women are healthier than singles, and the Warwick researchers speculate that a spouse might reduce a man's stress and encourage a healthy lifestyle.

But that does not seem to be the only factor, they note in their report, which is published online at http://www.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/Economics/oswald/.

"Exactly how marriage works its magic remains mysterious," they write in their report. "Perhaps a strong personal relationship improves mental health and helps the individual to ward off physical illness. More research here is certainly needed."

Oswald said the findings debunk the idea that wealthier people live longer.

"Forget cash. It is as clear as day from the data that marriage, rather than money, is what keeps people alive," he said in a statement.

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