The most sarcastic will say that they already knew it, but now a research has confirmed that being married is bad for health (mental): published on Alzheimer’s & Dementia And conducted on over 24,000 people (US, most of the white and married) followed for 18 years, the study has in fact highlighted that unmarried individuals (who have never contracted marriage, divorced or widowed) would run a minor risk of developing dementia compared to colleagues married. The reasons are not clear, but the authors hypothesize that a more active and less routine lifestyle would maintain the brain from cognitive decline. But are we sure?
Remarkable differences. The participants, men and women between 50 and 104 years of age, have been periodically subjected to neuropsychological tests to verify the cognitive state. Already in the first test, some had shown signs of a slight cognitive deficit, but in those who were not married hardly this was transformed into a real dementia. In general, the results are clear: All unmarried adults had at least 50% risk compared to those married to suffer from dementia. To confirm the reliability of the results, the researchers also analyzed other factors that could have influenced the development of dementia, such as age, sex, ethnicity, education, smoke and other aspects concerning physical and mental health.
More social life. But why would those who are married be more subject to suffering from dementia? The authors do not have certain answers, but hypotheses advance: “Those who have never married tend to socialize more with friends and neighbors”, explains Selin Karakose, coordinator of the research, who adds (paraphrasing) that couples are tendentially less integrated into society and have a less active social life; closing in a routine “couple” universe The brain would be less stimulated, and therefore it would more easily meet a cognitive decline. In addition to this, singles are also generally more independent – another factor that helps to keep the mind active.
Quite the opposite. The study, albeit interesting and conducted on a large sample of participants, cannot be taken as absolute truth: just think that a research that we had told you about a few years ago had come to contrary conclusions – that the marriage would protect from the risk of dementia thanks to the most intense social life of married couples.
We must accept it: science is not an exact discipline, and from different data you can reach diametrically opposite conclusions, just like in this case.
