--- title: The Scientific Reason Why Married People Are Healthier description: Overall, married people had lower cortisol levels than those who had never been or had previously been married. canonical: https://time.com/4671735/married-couples-healthier/ author: Real Simple article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-16T15:59:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:20:29.551Z article:section: Health og:title: The Scientific Reason Why Married People Are Healthier og:description: Your spouse can lower your stress og:url: https://time.com/4671735/married-couples-healthier/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta13665dca41be019/69888c400b72e314da6e8a75/relationships-wedding-marriage-high-expectations.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: relationships-wedding-marriage-high-expectations og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Scientific Reason Why Married People Are Healthier twitter:description: Your spouse can lower your stress twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta13665dca41be019/69888c400b72e314da6e8a75/relationships-wedding-marriage-high-expectations.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Scientific Reason Why Married People Are Healthier > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Amanda MacMillan / Real Simple](https://time.com/author/real-simple/) ## Amanda MacMillan / Real Simple Feb 16, 2017 3:59 PM UTC  Getty Images by [Amanda MacMillan / Real Simple](https://time.com/author/real-simple/) ## Amanda MacMillan / Real Simple Feb 16, 2017 3:59 PM UTC While the research isn’t _entirely_ one-sided (there’s the [weight issue](http://www.realsimple.com/health/nutrition-diet/healthy-eating/marriage-bmi), for one), several studies have suggested that married couples reap more [health benefits](http://www.realsimple.com/health/preventative-health/relationship-good-for-health) than those who are single, divorced, or widowed. Now, a new study points to a potential reason why: Married people have lower levels of cortisol—a stress hormone that, when produced in excess, can contribute to inflammation and chronic disease. The finding suggest that married people face less psychological stress than their single counterparts, say researchers from Carnegie Mellon University—and provide the first biological evidence to explain how committed partnerships can directly impact health. To compare cortisol levels in married and unmarried people, researchers collected saliva samples from 572 adults, ages 21 to 55, multiple times a day on three non-consecutive days. All participants were in good health, and the researchers adjusted their analysis for personality traits—like extraversion, neuroticism, and agreeableness—that might influence their findings. Overall, married people had [lower cortisol levels](http://www.psyneuen-journal.com/article/S0306-4530%2816%2930805-8/abstract) than those who had never been or had previously been married. Their cortisol levels also tended to drop faster throughout the afternoon, compared to those who had never been married. (Cortisol naturally tends to be highest in the morning, but quicker declines have been linked to lower rates of heart disease and other positive health outcomes.) Consistently high cortisol levels, which can be caused by ongoing stress, can interfere with the body’s ability to regulate inflammation, the authors say. Inflammation has been linked to many health conditions, including heart problems, lower immunity, diabetes, and cancer. The study, published in the journal _Psychoneuroendocrinology_, only identified a link between marriage and cortisol levels; the authors can merely speculate—based on other research—what that might mean for their long-term health. And in the end the answer might be less than they think: In another study using the same participants, marriage did _not_ affect people’s risk of catching a cold. The researchers also say that, because their sample size was relatively young and healthy, the findings may not apply to older or sicker adults. And they acknowledge that marital status may mean different things different people. “For example, being divorced, separated or bereaved may be more acceptable (and normative) for a 60-year-old than a 30-year-old,” they write. But overall, the authors say their findings suggest a pathway that could be responsible, at least in part, for marriage’s often-touted health perks. In a [press release](https://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2017-02/cmu-mph021317.php), co-author and psychology professor Sheldon Cohen, PhD, summed up the results in this way: “These data provide important insight into the way in which our intimate social relationships can get under the skin to influence our health.” _This_ [_article_](http://www.realsimple.com/health/biological-reason-marriage-is-healthy/?xid=time-rs) _originally appeared on_ [_RealSimple.com_](http://www.realsimple.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4671735/married-couples-healthier/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4671735/married-couples-healthier/"},"headline":"The Scientific Reason Why Married People Are Healthier","datePublished":"2017-02-16T15:59:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:20:29.551Z","description":"Your spouse can lower your stress","url":"https://time.com/4671735/married-couples-healthier/","keywords":["Research","Marriage","relationships","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta13665dca41be019/69888c400b72e314da6e8a75/relationships-wedding-marriage-high-expectations.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Amanda MacMillan / Real Simple"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta13665dca41be019/69888c400b72e314da6e8a75/relationships-wedding-marriage-high-expectations.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"relationships-wedding-marriage-high-expectations","caption":"","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4671735/married-couples-healthier/","name":"The Scientific Reason Why Married People Are Healthier"}}]}] ```