The surprising health benefit of being married
Lonely singles have twice as many heart attacks and are four times less likely to survive them than people in happy relationships. Cancer, strokes and other diseases are also more common.
It's why Kiwi-born professor of medicine at Monash University Merlin Thomas picks being in a relationship as the most important health tip when it comes to living to a long age.
He's the author of The Longevity List, a new book on the science behind living a long life. He calls his last chapter Do I really have to find love? the most important.
Thomas says love is critical when it comes to longevity. "At every stage of our adult lives, it seems that those people in a stable relationship are less likely to die than those who are out on their own.
"Despite it's obvious limitations, marriage remains one of society's most useful health-giving institutions, chiefly through its capacity to enhance and sustain relationships."
Thomas says when people feel connected and in a relationship it creates a magical chemistry. "How do you put that in a pill or in a diet? But it really matters."
Elsewhere in the book, Thomas deconstructs popular thoughts and understandings around health.
He uses the battle between margarine and butter as an example of how ideas on what's good for us can change.
Up to 1972, it was illegal for ordinary Kiwis to buy margarine. It had to be got it from a pharmacy with a prescription. When it was opened up to all, farmers pushed for all margarine to be coloured blue so it couldn't be mistaken for butter.
That failed and "marg" ended up in our fridges. But the battle between the spreads continued. The early margarine turned out to be much more unhealthy than butter because it was full of dangerous trans fats created by the way it was made solid through heat, while butter coagulated naturally.
Both were equally fattening, but butter got caught up in the anti-saturated fats movement, which blamed it for causing heart disease by raising cholesterol. But again that has been largely disapproved, and margarine has become much healthier. We have also discovered there are important good things that also come from saturated fats.
Thomas sums it up by saying the fat we eat is not intrinsically good or bad, it comes down to how we use it. As with most of his advice, the best path is through moderation.
"You don't have to give up butter, but you don't need have to have butter all the time. You don't have to give up red wine, but you need self control and awareness around intoxication. You don't have to give up chocolate, but for God's sake eat the good stuff."
Written by Ewan Sargent. Republished with permission of Stuff.co.nz.