Married men have healthier bones than their unmarried and widowed counterparts, new research suggests.
Researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles analysed data from a sample of 632 adults, looking for links between bone mineral density and marital history.
The data suggested a clear link between bone mineral density and marriage for men. Married men had better density than widowed, separated and divorced men, as well as those who had never been married. The effect was more pronounced for men who married after the age of 25.
For women, by contrast, better bone density was only associated with marriage if they thought of their spouses as supportive and caring, the Huffington Post reports.
The researchers write:
“In women, the quality of the marriage was more important than just being married, consistent with previous findings that women unhappily married suffer more distress than those never married.”
The study was published in the journal Osteoporosis International.
Research will also show that married men wear more rings on the digitus medicinalis.
And that where arboreals abound there shall ursines defecate!