Marriage and brain health

by Dr Norman Swan

Having a partner can be good for you in many ways, including helping to maintain a healthy brain.

12 11 2009

Living with a partner – a wife or husband at the age of 50 – makes a difference to your thinking ability and memory, and indeed dementia in later life, at least according to a study in Finland.

They followed up nearly 1500 people who'd been examined about twenty years previously at the age of 50.

Those who were not co-habiting at the age of 50 were significantly more likely to have thinking and memory problems later on. Compared to people who were single, divorced or widowed, people living with a spouse had about half the chance of being cognitively impaired 20 years on. And the effects were even greater if the person was still living alone in their 70s.

Now, you might say that people who are heading for some cognitive decline might be harder to live with and therefore more prone to separation. But, in fact, the risks were more pronounced for people whose partner had died. So, unless you think they were homicidal, it's unlikely you can blame personality.

Other studies have made similar findings but suggested that it's men who benefit from marriage, not women. But, to be charitable, if the findings are real then it's likely that the social support and mental stimulation that comes from the jousting of relationships helps to preserve and exercise the ageing brain.