Family Life

08.23.11 | Sarah Harnisch

   A new study by researchers at the University of Rochester finds marriage might actually be good for your heart. The study found happily wedded people who undergo coronary bypass surgery are more then 3 times likely to be alive 15 years later then their unmarried counterparts. Researchers contend the affects of marital satisfaction are every bit as important to survival after bypass as more traditional risk factors like tobacco use, obesity, and high blood pressure. Researchers also found for men, marriage in general is linked to higher survival rates. But for women, the quality of the relationship is even more important. But for woman, the quality of the relationship was even more important. While unhappy marriages provided virtually no survival bonus for women, satisfying unions increased a woman's survival rate almost fourfold.