Does a happy marriage protect against dementia?
Friday August 11, 2023.
Research from 2020 reveals that Happily Married Humans are Less Likely to Experience Significant Cognitive Decline as They Age, according to a Number of Research Studies.
The reason why remains elusive. Perhaps the protective aspects of married life is the mutual aid in living a higher quality life. Happy couples might pay more attention to self care. They may drink less alcohol, they may exercise more with their partner, eat a healthier diet and enjoy other modes of social stimulation.
Nearly 6 million people in the US suffer with dementia, the notion that a happy marriage could curb dementia, research suggests that marriage preservation has significant health impact.
Dementia doubled for divorcees in this study
A significant finding was that divorcees are twice as likely to get dementia, with divorced men most acutely impacted.
Humans who are divorced have a higher risk of dementia than those who have never married.
Professor Hui “Cathy” Liu, the study’s first author, said:
“This research is important because the number of unmarried older adults in the United States continues to grow, as people live longer and their marital histories become more complex.
Marital status is an important but overlooked social risk/protective factor for dementia.”
How the study was conducted
The research was respectfully huge. It included over 15,000 American humans over the age of 52.
This was a longitudinal study conducted over 14 years that asked the study subjects about different areas of life, including the state of their intimate relationships, as well as their physical health.
Over the course of the 14 year study, their cognitive health was assessed every other year. The study revealed that divorced people humans were deemed to be at the highest risk of dementia. Differences in economic status failed to explain this stark difference.
This was not a case of breaking research. As I mentioned earlier, previous research has shown that marriage can reduce the risk of developing dementia by as much as 42%. Compared with happily married humans, lifelong unmarrieds were 42% more likely to develop dementia.
It was also interesting to note that widowed humans had a 20% increased chance of developing dementia.
Professor Liu said:
“These findings will be helpful for health policy makers and practitioners who seek to better identify vulnerable populations and to design effective intervention strategies to reduce dementia risk.”
It does beg the question… is the healing effect of a happy marriage like a new miracle drug?
How can we discourage the normalization of gray divorce by publicizing the critical impact of a happy marriage on brain health late in life?
Be well, and Godspeed.
RESEARCH:
Hui Liu, PhD and others, Marital Status and Dementia: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study, The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Volume 75, Issue 8, October 2020, Pages 1783–1795, https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbz087
