If you and your partner love to end the day with a nightcap together or often indulge yourself by breaking open a bottle of wine for date nights, a new study might have some good news for you and your relationship.
A study published in the medical journal The Gerontologist claims that couples with similar drinking habits tend to live longer versus those in which only one partner drinks or those in which neither imbibes.
The researchers at the University of Michigan, led by Dr. Kira S. Birditt, studied 4,656 married cohabiting opposite-sex couples over the age of 50 for two decades. The participants completed surveys every two years, reporting if they consumed alcohol, and if so, how much.
“Spouses with concordant (i.e. similar) drinking behaviours often report better quality marriages and are married longer compared with those who report discordant drinking behaviours,” says the study, “Analyses revealed concordant drinking spouses (both indicated they drank in the last three months) survived longer than discordant drinking spouses (one partner drinks and the other does not) and concordant nondrinking spouses.”
Dr Birditt’s research was built upon a previous study by the same group which showed that couples who drank together tended to be happier than those who did not. It was inspired by a theory in alcohol literature known as ‘The Drinking Partnership’, which claimed that couples who shared drinking patterns had healthier marriages.
The research, however, cautions that the findings are not clear about the link between the amount of alcohol consumed and the couple’s longevity and happiness together. It suggested that light drinking seems to be the right way to strike the balance between a healthy life and a happy relationship. The conclusions also pointed out that the couples staying together for longer could also be because they share leisure time activities.
Well, if you needed another excuse to kick back and relax with your partner while you enjoy a cold one, there you have it!
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