Does Getting Married Make You Less Fit?

Getting married can be wonderful in many ways. You find a person to share your life with and you can now plan ahead as a couple. However, a recent study which was published by the American Journal of Epidemiology looked at the way men and women’s fitness level change when their marital status changes as well.

For a lot of people, it’s quite clear that once people get married they let themselves go. However, now there’s scientific evidence which may finally support this assumption.

The study which followed 8,871 adults people looked at how changes in marital status (from single to married, from married to divorced, and from divorced to remarried) affected the fitness level of the subjects. The test was a cardiovascular one conducted on a treadmill.

The study found that the fitness level of men and women who got married dropped. However, men who got divorced experienced an improvement in their fitness, though a modest one. If those men got remarried, another reduction in their fitness level was documented.

It should be noted that women who got divorced should no improvement in their fitness level. This may be attributed to the fact that there were a lot fewer women in this study than there were men.

In addition, men who began the study as divorced also experienced a reduction in their fitness level. This reduction was bigger when they got re-married.   

The findings do support the popular assumption that people “let themselves go” after they get married because they don’t need to date and find a partner anymore. I don’t really believe that myself as I think you need to attract your partner each and every day anew, but I can see why some people would behave this way.

That being said, the changes in fitness, as measured in the study, were not big.  Becoming less fit after marriage is not a rule or a certainty. In the end, it depends on you and your actions. I believe that you should always look after yourself, for your own health, regardless of whether you’re alone or in a loving relationship.