How Companionship Keeps You Healthy

The value of social support has been hiding in plain sight for so long that it is amazing it took researchers so long to discover it. From the day that we are born, social support is essential to human survival. We have a more prolonged period of helplessness and dependency than any other mammal. For years, we must rely fully on our parent’s physical and social skills. Thousands of years ago, humans also discovered the survival advantage of organizing themselves into clans, tribes, villages, cities, and nations. Many other animals are stronger, faster, and endowed with more acute senses. But thanks to language and symbols, we humans have a unique ability to engage in complicated interactions, advance the common good and protect ourselves from predators – both animal and human. As a result, we have populated the entire habitable earth. Our clichés tell the tale: There’s strength in numbers.” Two heads are better than one.” “One for all, and all for one.”

But only since the advent of psychoneuroimmunology – the study of how emotions influence the central nervous system and the immune system – have scientists come to appreciate the fact that “all for one” means that the “all” has profound physiological impact on the “one.” In the 1940s, when researchers first documented the “marriage bonus” on health, they speculated how a stable home life might contribute to health and longevity.

Nutrition. Married people, especially those with children, are more likely than singles to eat healthfully.
Bad habits. The social support provided by marriage helps people avoid – and quit – bad habits, particularly smoking, excessive drinking and overeating.