Researchers in Australia have found that married men live longer than unmarried men. In a study conducted in 1988 involving 3000 married men and women, researchers tracked the health of couples for 15 years to come to this conclusion. What exactly lead them to this conclusion and what could be the causes for this?

Although the jury is still out on this one, there are various reasons attributed to why something like this occurs. The life expectancy contributed to marriage in men increases by at least 9 months whereas it does not affect women at all. Researchers say that the stronger women - women who are physically, emotionally, and financially more stable do not feel the need to get married and thereby often do not marry. For them, survival is a way of life. They are happy looking out for themselves and thereby live longer, whereas the less strong of the men - in all aspects, physical, emotional and financial, who do not marry are more likely to be unhappy and tend to live shorter lives. The more successful a man, the more likely he is to get married. A successful career and the strong family support that he presumably gets at home makes the quality of his life better, thereby allowing him to enjoy life more than his unmarried counterparts.

Women, on the other hand, are capable of taking care of themselves - successful or not. If they are successful - they take care of themselves and if they are not, they get married and let the man do the caring and providing for - thus it is a "heads you win, tails I lose" situation for them.

The research also found that fitter people, in the biological sense, are more likely to get married. People who are stronger and sturdier tend to survive longer so marriage plays a small part in increasing their life expectancy.

Another point is that traditional couples who demarcate the roles that nature intended for them - e.g. - hunting, gathering, and providing for men and nurturing, caring, and suckling for women increase the life expectancy of men since it tends to make the man feel more secure and happy.

Women are more loving, caring, emotional, and nurturing creatures. When a man gets married, he gets an unconditional access to these wonderful qualities that he may lack or have in short supply. Thus, by being married, he makes sure he has this backbone that ensures the quality of his life. Since this improves after he marries, he lives longer. Women already possess these qualities, so the addition or subtraction of men from the equation does not give or take from the quality of their life, thereby making no change in their life expectancy. However, if into any of these equations we add stress, bickering, nagging, physical or domestic violence, or psychological turmoil, the life expectancy does decrease for both sexes. In effect, to live longer, try to make your environment as conducive to love, happiness, and sharing as you can and enjoy life - a little longer.