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Positive effect A happy partner is good for your own health
In a new study it has been shown that a happy partner promotes one's own health, even when one is not that happy. The scientists assume that this has, among other things, to do with the support that one gets in a partnership.
Partners have an influence on their own health
The fact that a partnership can also affect physical well-being has already been proven in various scientific studies. Researchers at University College London, for example, in JAMA Internal Medicine, reported that many people live healthier lives thanks to their partners, among other things because they give up unhealthy behaviors. Other research has shown that women are more likely to promote men's health as they are more concerned about healthy eating, less smoking and less likely to drink alcohol. In a new study, it has now been determined that a happy partner is apparently especially good for the health.
A new study showed that a happy partner promotes one's own health. Even if you are not happy yourself. (Image: contrastwerkstatt / fotolia.com) People with happy partners are fitter
"Happy people are healthy people," states a statement by the American Psychological Association (APA), which reports on a US study that found a happy partner to promote one's health - and regardless of how happy you are.
According to a news agency dpa, about 2,000 couples had been interviewed for the investigation. The study participants reported for six years how satisfied they were with their lives, how healthy they felt, how they moved, and whether they were physically challenged.
It turned out that subjects whose partners considered themselves lucky were fitter than others, according to the journal "Psychologie Heute" (issue 02/2017).
To motivate a healthy lifestyle
What was surprising about the result was that partners with a happy partner even had a good state of health even if they were not very happy themselves. A clear explanation why this is so, the scientists do not have.
They suspect that happy people can motivate an unhappy partner to a healthy lifestyle and give him or her a lot of support. Because that also has a positive effect on one's own well-being.
According to the researchers, the new findings expand existing assumptions about the relationship between happiness and health. "Having a happy partner can improve your health as well as your desire to be happy yourself," the APA notes. (Ad)