There was a big study published in England last week in which their government has been interviewing people born in 1952 every two years and crunching the numbers to see what happens. There were a few significant findings about risk of death for the group. The two risk factors or protective factors that stand out are issues close to our hearts. One is weight. Death due to disease for people who are obese, or who just have a large waist measurement and are not obese, but merely overweight, is a higher risk.
The other factor that seemed to protect people is wealth. Not only do poor people face a higher risk of death at any age, it goes higher as we get older. Quality of life is also related to wealth. It’s known that there is a limitation on the happiness/ money relationship. If your adjusted income is less than $50,000 a year more money may make you happy. Above that level, it doesn’t make any difference.
Another factor that wasn’t noted in that study is that women and men react differently to marriage. Men who are married live longer than men who are single throughout their lives. Women do not change in life expectancy because of marital status. I wonder what the new status of same sex marriage in our state will do to change the life expectancy for men who marry men, and women that marry women. It will affect the protective factor of wealth, because couples that are not married have a higher tax burden, and fewer benefits than single people, or people who have a registered domestic partnership. Even with state recognized same sex marriage a federal program like social security or Medicaid won’t allow the combined income reduction for calculating share-of-cost.
Since men traditionally gain the “freshman fifteen” pounds in the first year of marriage, I wonder if that will carry over. I guess it depends on which one cooks.
It looks like the November ballot will have a same sex marriage initiative. The state supreme court will not block the vote. I expect to have a lot to say about it here in the next few months and will consider any feedback you care to offer.