This is because marriage helps both the partners in a wedlock to lead a healthier lifestyle, including exercising more, eating a healthy diet, smoking and drinking less, all of which have been associated with the persistence of a reduced risk of dementia.
‘Interaction of a loving relationship, leading a healthier lifestyle, including exercising more, eating a healthy diet, smoking and drinking less will reduce the risk of dementia.’
Couples may also have more opportunities for social engagement than single people that further wards off the dementia risk.
Conversely, lifelong singletons and widowers were 42 percent and 20 percent more likely to develop dementia risk.
It is because they lack proper communication, which boosts the stress levels that further impairs the nerve signalling in the brain and cognitive abilities, the researchers noted.
Thus, those who remain unmarried should focus more on education and proper physical health to cut down the risk of dementia, the researchers said.
In the study, published in the journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, the team examined over 800,000 people, both married and unmarried.
Source: IANS