Having a happy partner means you’ll live longer, says study

Happy wife, happy life...

In news that probably won't surprise you, it's been found that keeping your partner happy could mean a better lifespan. Yep, life is a lot easier when your other half is in good form but this could also have serious long-term benefits. A new study has found that people with satisfied partners tend to live longer than those who don't. Researchers at Tilberg University in the Netherlands looked at over 4,300 elderly US couples over a period of eight years. They found that having a partner with a higher level of life satisfaction was linked with a 13 percent lower mortality risk. In fact, spousal satisfaction has a pretty significant effect on our mortality, they say - the researchers found it to be comparable to other known factors for mortality including income, education and even a person's own level of life satisfaction. This is the first time that science has suggested that being around a happy person can boost our own lifespans. One explanation the researchers give for this result is that happier people tend to be more physically active and healthy. This in turn makes their partners more likely to be healthy and active, they say, helping them to live longer.

"If your partner is depressed and wants to spend the evening eating chips in front of the TV, that’s how your evening will probably end up looking as well," said lead study author Olga Stavrova.

Stavrova even says that we should consider a potential partner's happiness levels before committing to a long-term relationship.

"This research might have implications for questions such as what attributes we should pay attention to when selecting our spouse or partner and whether healthy lifestyle recommendations should target couples (or households) rather than individuals."