A healthy relationship can make you happier, live longer, age more gracefully, reduce stress, improve mental health, reduce pain, prevent a heart attack, improve your sleep and heal faster, according to Business Insider.
Numerous studies demonstrate a link between romantic relationships and a significantly longer life span. Humans are social animals, so a lack of relationships, especially close, intimate ones, poses a tremendous health risk. In fact, researchers at Brigham Young University report that loneliness is as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
A study by researchers at the University of Arizona revealed that a supportive, healthy relationship reduced the mortality rate for people suffering from congestive heart failure. A study by researchers at Emory and Rutgers universities found that married people who had undergone heart surgery were three times as likely to survive the next three months than unmarried patients. Finally, a study from the University of Chicago on high blood pressure showed that loneliness had a serious negative effect independent of age, gender or ethnicity.
At apa.org they report that the incidence of cancer, as well as survival rates for those diagnosed with various types of cancer, shows that being married provides significant benefit. There have been many studies exploring the specific ethnicities and gender with regard to cancer types. Millennial Magazine notes a study by University of Indiana researchers of 3 million cancer patients found that 10-year survival rates were approximately 37 percent for separated patients, compared to 58 percent for married patients. A study on invasive breast cancer by UC San Diego researchers reported in a study of 150,000 cases that unmarried women were 1.28 times more likely to die than married women.
Also, love boosted the effectiveness of influenza vaccinations, producing a significantly greater immune response among seniors who were both married and reported marital satisfaction, according to University of Birmingham researchers. There are other similar studies on influenza vaccine immune response reported by UC San Francisco and the World Health Organization.
