Want To Live A Longer Life? Just Get Married. Like It’s That Easy

The judgments passed on singles are frequent and damning. Want to live longer? Be happier? Get richer? Just get married. No problem. Or is it?

By Lucinda Bradlow

Relationships

The judgments passed on singles are frequent and damning. Want to live longer? Be happier? Get richer? Just get married. No problem. Or is it?

By Lucinda Bradlow

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Professors at the University of Pennsylvania recently developed a life expectancy calculator. You answer a bunch of questions about your age, fitness and lifestyle and they tell you how long you will live.

I put in my details. Thirty-five, female, high income, excellent health, good physical fitness, non-smoker, single. The results come up. Life expectancy: not as high as you might think. And the major impacting factor? Being single. Apparently married people just live longer.

Lucinda Bradlow is an Australian living and working in Washington, D.C. as a communications consultant. She spent most of her 20s travelling to and studying Africa and is a specialist in development communications.