Married people have stronger hands than those who are single

New Scientist

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Married men and women can grip objects more firmly than their unmarried counterparts. Among married men, it is those who have had more than one wife who have the strongest grip of all — and we don’t really know why.

People who are married typically have better physical and psychological health than people who are single. This may be because a marriage partner can provide strong social support or encourage healthier living. Married couples also tend to have larger household incomes, which may be a part of it as wealthier people tend to be healthier.

But we know less about how marriage influences physical ability, particularly in the later years of life. To investigate, Natasha Wood at University College London and her colleagues examined data collected as part of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and the US Health and Retirement Study. Both surveys gather data on people in their 50s or older. Read more on newscientist.com…