FINDING love isn鈥檛 great for your waistline. A large study has found that even though couples tend to have healthier lifestyles than single people, this doesn鈥檛 stop them from piling on the pounds.
of Central Queensland University in Australia and her colleagues have analysed a decade of survey data from more than 15,000 volunteers. Each person had answered questions about lifestyle choices, such as how much fast food they ate, and how much television they watched.
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The team found that couples and singles seem to do the same amount of physical activity, and watch similar amounts of television, even accounting for variables such as age, sex, employment status and level of education.
Generally, people in relationships seemed to make other healthier lifestyle choices, says Schoeppe. Couples ate more fruit and vegetables and less fast food, they drank less alcohol, and they smoked less too (PLoS One, ).
Other studies have shown that if couples are happy with their relationship, they are more likely to want to live healthier lifestyles because they want their relationship to last longer too, says at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
But despite this, people in relationships were more likely to be overweight. 鈥淚t could be that couples are eating more of all food types together 鈥� both healthy fruits and vegetables, and desserts, or rich foods, which increases the likelihood of being overweight,鈥� says Berge. 鈥淭his may be because social behaviour in marriage commonly revolves around eating occasions.鈥�
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e married, your social behaviours tend to revolve around occasions that involve eating鈥�
鈥淲hen couples don鈥檛 need to look attractive and slim to attract a partner, they may feel more comfortable in eating more, or eating more foods high in fat and sugar,鈥� says Schoeppe.
鈥淗ow long you鈥檝e been in the relationship for probably matters,鈥� says at University College London. Past research has found that couples are more likely to be overweight or obese if they are married or have been living together for .
Having kids may also have an effect. 鈥淲hen couples have children in the household, they tend to eat the children鈥檚 leftovers or snacks,鈥� Schoeppe says.
Relationship status seems to affect men and women differently. Heilmann has shown that single men who have divorced or separated from a partner are as men still in relationships. But there is no such link between divorce and alcohol in women.
Schoeppe hopes that understanding how relationship status affects health might help health practitioners give better advice to people who want to live more healthily. 鈥淲hen we look at interventions, we traditionally look at education, age and gender, but we less often look at relationship status,鈥� she says. 鈥淔amilies and relationships play an important role in lifestyle choices. You鈥檙e a closed unit and can easily influence each other 鈥� so we have to consider that too.鈥�
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淵ou really do put on weight in a relationship鈥�
