Marriage is Good for the Brain

Dr. Ranit Mishori
August 9, 2009

Parade Magazine

We’ve known for some time that married people live longer. Now a new study suggests that matrimony may also help keep the mind sharp—warding off age-related issues like memory loss or dementia.

Researchers studied the changes among a group of 1400 people from Finland—starting from when they were all aged 50 or so, then again 20 years later—and reported the results in the British Medical Journal. They found that the individuals with the greatest risk for Alzheimer’s disease were those who were widowed or divorced at midlife and remained so. Being single at midlife was also a risk factor.

This “marriage effect” appears not to be influenced by how much education the individuals had attained, how much physical exercise they got, or whether they otherwise had active social lives—all factors that other studies have found to be important in determining the risk of dementia.

The authors suggest that having a partner might provide additional mental and social challenges that somehow stimulate the brain and delay the onset of dementia.

Of course, getting Alzheimer’s is not dependent simply on lifestyle. This devastating illness involves a complex interaction of factors that include genetics and environment. What is clear, however, is that people who maintain a healthy and active lifestyle—physically, socially, mentally, and perhaps maritally—appear to have a lower risk of developing the disease.