It’s not new news that marriage is known to deflect depression, stave off stress, and help people live longer. Although, a new study indicates that it might even decrease your chance of developing dementia.
Why Does Marriage Reduce your Risk of Dementia?
A decline in mental ability that interferes with daily life is dementia. Marriage lowers your chance of developing this dreaded disease. Unfortunately, divorced people have more than twice the odds for mental decline than married people.
Divorced men have the worst chance of developing dementia with a 2.6 times higher chance. While divorced women have a 30% higher chance of risk than married women.
Why is Marriage Good for our Health
There are a lot of theories about why marriage might be good for general health:
Married people are typically financially better off, but there are other factors that play a role. One of them being the social psychology benefit.
Divorce can lead to financial and emotional stress, which may directly affect mental function. The stress and depression that can come from divorce can potentially lead to dementia.
It’s all about the part of the brain called the cortex. The cortex evolved as the center of cognitive processing. It manages our level of functioning. If it falls below the level of normal functioning, that’s when dementia happens.
Emotional Support and Dementia
Emotional support is key to preventing dementia. Married people find their social network through their spouse, their friends and family, their sense of belonging. Being married increases social integration, which promotes cognitive health.
Married people have a lower risk of dementia because they’re constantly interacting with each other, negotiating and relating, and that keeps the cortex engaged.
Are Divorced Men More vulnerable to Dementia
There are many factors that can make a man more vulnerable to divorce. And that makes men more vulnerable to dementia.
Stress may help explain why divorced men are at such a loss when their marriage ends. They may be more at risk than unmarried men because they have been through a divorce that creates stress.
It’s not that marriage doesn’t also include stress, but the bonus of having connections, a network, might sometimes minimize the risk.
Men seek more health benefits from their marriage, leaning on their wives for emotional support. Men tend to get more benefit from the relationship, but once they’re divorced, they lose all that.
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Fairmont Grand is a resident centered senior living and memory care facility in Rapid City, SD. Our goal is to create an environment where resident well-being is at the heart of everything we do.
Our wide range of services are designed to meet you or your loved one’s daily needs. We offer restaurant style dining options, a variety of physical activities, and give residents the opportunity to live as independently as possible.
If you or a loved one near Rapid City, South Dakota are considering assisted living or memory care, contact Fairmont Grand to learn more about individualized living options or tour our community.
