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A
Married Man is a
Healthy Man, Study Finds
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Men who become widowed or divorced may
lose more than a spouse. They are also likely to give up a range
of health habits that help protect against disease and early death,
results of a study suggest.
The findings,
which are scheduled to be presented this week at the annual meeting
of the American Psychosomatic Society in Monterey, California,
show that recently divorced and widowed men eat fewer vegetables,
drink more alcohol, and are less likely to quit smoking than their
married counterparts.
The study
results support the idea that marriage is good for men. Research
has shown, for instance, that divorced men are more likely to
drink, smoke, commit suicide, develop Alzheimer's disease, and
die prematurely.
In the current
trial of nearly 30,000 men, vegetable intake declined by more
than three servings per week in men following the death of a spouse,
and nearly two servings per week after a divorce.
Divorced men
were also more likely to smoke than their married peers but those
who remarried were likely to quit, findings show. Widowed men
were more likely than married men to drink heavily--more than
21 drinks a week.
It is not
clear from the study why widowers or newly single men may be more
lax when it comes to their health, but study co-author Dr. Ichiro
Kawachi speculates that women have a salutary effect on men.
``Women in
general are much better at keeping doctor and dentist appointments.
And there may be an unequal distribution of cooking tasks at home...even
though most women are also working in paid jobs,'' said Kawachi,
from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts.
Indeed, newly
single men also increased their consumption of fried foods outside
the home.
Kawachi said
that doctors should be aware of their male patients' marital status
and inquire about changes when their health habits begin to slip.
According
to an earlier study, divorce or marital separation more than doubled
the risk of suicide in men but was unrelated to suicide risks
in women. Another study linked lower blood pressure in men with
social support from a spouse.
Reference
Source 89
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