The Type of Love That Makes People Happiest

When it comes to lasting romance, passion has nothing on friendship.

 Bridgerton offers clever relationship advice — why friendship is the foundation of happy romantic partnerships

Indeed marriage researcher and psychologist John Gottman argues friendship is the foundation of happy romantic partnerships and the most important predictor of maintaining good relationships long-term.

 Researchers found one way that long-term marriages get happier

Importantly, jokes and gentle humor were not the only heroic behaviors that showed up in greater abundance in the marriages they followed. All the positive ways we can behave toward someone became more evident as the years passed, but primarily humor, enthusiasm, and validation (actively listening to and understanding your partner). Criticisms dropped off, as did the truly toxic, divorce-courting habits like stonewalling. Men demonstrated less anger, and women less contempt.

 What You Lose When You Gain a Spouse

What if marriage is not the social good that so many believe and want it to be?

Is Marriage Good for Your Health?

But in the 150 years since Farr’s work, scientists have continued to document the “marriage advantage”: the fact that married people, on average, appear to be healthier and live longer than unmarried people.

Can marriage make you sick?

In general, it promotes health. But it might not if your relationship is troubled or your partner is ill. Here's why, and what can be done.

Marriage and men's health

Numerous studies conducted over the past 150 years suggest that marriage is good for health. More recently, scientists have begun to understand why married men enjoy better health than their single, divorced, and widowed peers.

Marriage Makes People Happier, New Study Finds

The effects lasted well into old age.

The health advantages of marriage

I think that in the future we will have a better understanding of the health effects of social supports, including marriage. Then, our focus can turn to another important question: so what? If marriage is truly a predictor of better health, can this knowledge be used to improve health? For example, if a single person has a heart attack, is there some way that this “higher risk” individual can be treated differently to improve the outcome?

The Weird Health Benefit of Marriage

The researchers point out that their study only shows a correlation, not causation—but it’s already been speculated (prior to this research) that stressors over the course of your life may affect your bone health. So it makes sense that consistent/supportive marriages may help protect bone health.

A bad marriage can seriously damage your health, say scientists

Psychologists monitored 373 couples over 16 years and found that couples who disagree often have poorer health – especially for men.

Every successful relationship is successful for the same exact reasons

You can work through anything as long as you are not destroying yourself or each other. That means emotionally, physically, financially, or spiritually. Make nothing off limits to discuss. Never shame or mock each other for the things you do that make you happy. Write down why you fell in love and read it every year on your anniversary (or more often).

Go ahead, marry your cousin—it's not that bad for your future kids

Just don't turn it into a family tradition.

How Negativity Can Kill a Relationship

Successful marriages are defined not by improvement, but by avoiding decline.

How to Actually Follow Through on the Relationship Advice You Get

You could read a dozen articles to improve your love life, but if you don’t use any of it, why bother? Here’s how to put that good advice to use.

Living Together May Be Even Better for Your Health Than Marriage

Studies find evidence that a caring relationship is the key, rather than a special bond in marriage.

Longtime Couples Get In Sync, In Sickness And In Health

We think of aging as something we do alone, the changes unfolding according to each person's own traits and experiences. But researchers are learning that as we age in relationships, we change biologically to become more like our partners than we were in the beginning.

Masters of Love

Science says lasting relationships come down to—you guessed it—kindness and generosity.

The Best Relationship Advice of the Year

Top suggestions from readers include spoiling your partner, listening, assuming the best and knowing when to chuck it all.

The Science Behind Happy Relationships

When it comes to relationships, most of us are winging it. We’re exhilarated by the early stages of love, but as we move onto the general grind of everyday life, personal baggage starts to creep in and we can find ourselves floundering in the face of hurt feelings, emotional withdrawal, escalating conflict, insufficient coping techniques and just plain boredom. There’s no denying it: making and keeping happy and healthy relationships is hard.

What Does A Healthy Relationship Look Like? Experts Weigh In

A healthy relationship doesn’t just happen by accident. It takes two people, however imperfect, who are committed to putting in the work to better themselves and improve their partnership in the process.

When Did Marriage Become So Hard?

No matter how many you've been to, it's hard to shake the contagious optimism of weddings. Couples vow to love one another in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer. Family members dab tears from their eyes, agreeing that these two people are meant to be together forever. But so many marriages become unhappy. Some dissolve. Some end in divorce. And even the successful ones aren't without challenges.

Why aphrodisiac foods don’t work, and why we keep trying them anyway

None, really, have been scientifically proven in good medical research to be effective for treatment of sexual problems. While chocolate [in some studies showed] a trend toward improved sexual function, the results were not statistically significant. The Mediterranean diet has been studied and is linked to improved sexual function as it is primarily cardioprotective, so it helps with overall cardiovascular health.