Air date: September 20, 2009

Host: Jeremy Shere, PhD

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Did you Know? is presented by Wishard Health Services, becoming Eskenazi Health in 2014.

Did you know that being divorced or widowed can harm your health?

It's well known that being married is healthy -- married people tend to enjoy better health than singles.

But according to a recent national study, being married and then becoming single again -- whether through divorce or the death of a spouse -- can lead to serious health problems.

The main culprit is stress.

Going through a divorce or losing a spouse to illness causes all sort of emotional turmoil. And it's the stress related to the upheaval that often leads to physical problems.

When you're stressed, you don't sleep as well. You don't eat as well. You tend to not exercise as much. And over time, all of those negatives add up to poor health.

Even remarrying doesn't quite solve the problem. The study found that people in second marriages are less healthy overall than people who's marriages have remained intact.

Of course, being in a bad marriage is stressful, too. So the lesson here isn't that it's best to remain married no matter what.

But a happy long-term marriage is a healthy situation, for mind and body.

And now you know.

Additional Resources:

• Read more how divorce or the death of a spouse can lead to poor health. From the NYT

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