Marriage has been a part of human culture for thousands of years, almost all cultures and religions on the planet have some sort of partnership ceremony. In some cultures, men are allowed to have multiple wives; however, in most places marriage is limited to one man and one woman.

• Married people live longer:

  

If you love being married, good news: being married may also help you live longer. Living with a partner lowered the mortality rate for men by 80 percent and for women by 59 percent, according to researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Cincinnati. Lead researcher Hui Liu said that marriage had an even more dramatic effect on longevity than simply living with a partner. “Many assume marriage and cohabitation are wholly the same, but our research showed that cohabitation, generally, led to a shorter lifespan,” she said.

• Married people have lower stress

A study at the University of Chicago suggested that married people — and people in long-term, committed relationships — have less dramatic responses to psychological stress. In the study, participants were asked to play a computer game they believed had high stakes for their academic careers. Their saliva was tested for the stress hormone cortisol before and after playing. “We found that unpaired individuals of both sexes had higher cortisol levels than married individuals,” said one researcher.

• Married couples are less likely to be depressed

  

It’s certainly possible to be happy and single, and marriage by no means guarantees happiness. But at least one study from the University of Virginia showed that single people in their twenties are “more likely to drink to excess, to be depressed, and to report lower levels of satisfaction with their lives, compared to married twentysomethings.” Remind yourself of that next time your husband leaves his dirty socks in the middle of the living room.

• People with a spouse are less likely to engage in risky behavior

Over time, being married can actually change the way people behave for the better. One interesting way is that married people take fewer risks, including substance abuse. According to researcher Dr. Christopher Fagundes, people who live together act more cautiously than people who live alone, and they become even more cautious after they get hitched. So thank your husband or wife the next time you buckle your seat belt.

• Married folks get better sleep

You may be constantly annoyed by your spouse stealing the covers, but a study of nearly 2,000 women found that women who reported being in a happy marriage also had better sleep. The happier the women reported being in their marriages, the easier it was for them to fall and stay asleep. Wendy Troxel of the University of Pittsburgh, who authored the study, also reported that divorced women tend to have worse sleep than married women.

“My husband and I are the best of friends, first and foremost. We fight like cats and dogs, but we never stay mad for long. I was lucky to find him—he is in every way, my soulmate.”

— Carnie Wilson

“Marriage is neither heaven nor hell, it is simply purgatory.”

— Abraham Lincoln