FRISKY FRIDAY FINDING: Do Couples Who Drink Together Live Longer or Shorter Lives?

Couple out for drinks in winter MM DL – Maura Myles Image

Study: Couples Who Drink Together Live Longer

According to a new study, couples who drink together, live longer and have happier marriages. The key is that it’s something they do, or look forward to doing, together. They unwind and talk, laugh and figure stuff out.

It’s the couples who don’t do it, together, who may be hurting their health or, well, hurting.

Research, from the medical journal The Gerontologist, examined drinking behaviors and the impact it had on mortality among opposite-sex spouses.

Based on a study, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, where 4,656 married and cohabiting different-sex couples over 50 from 1996 to 2016, “Spouses with concordant (i.e., similar) drinking behaviors often report better quality marriages and are married longer compared with those who report discordant drinking behaviors. Analyses revealed concordant-drinking spouses (both indicated they drank in the last 3 months) survived longer than discordant-drinking spouses (1 partner drinks and the other does not) and concordant non-drinking spouses.”

Would the result be the same if the drinks are non-alcoholic, because this is more of a couples-behavior study?

Now, you’d also have to look at the study, to see if this is generational, if it changes with age or with age groups… And it may also provide insight about couples meeting other couples for drinks. Is that exponentially better? LOL

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