If you want to be truly happy, then you need to find your life partner, right?
Wrong!
Despite the long running stigma that single people are miserable, research is showing that single people are experiencing happy and healthier lives than their married counterparts.
Don’t believe me?
Then go ahead and check out these 10 science-backed reasons.
1) Single people are more social
Research has found that Americans who are single are more likely to support and stay in touch with their family and socialize with others.
So while couples remain trapped in the bubble of their own love, single people are out there participating in their community and staying close to loved ones.
Humans beings are social animals, and psychologists have theorized that people who live alone naturally compensate by becoming more socially active than those who live with others.
2) Single people have more time to themselves
If you’re an introvert, this is particularly relevant to you.
Time alone is important for “restorative solitude”, according to psychologists.
Restorative solitude allows us to regain our energy, check in with our feelings and understand our own meaning and purpose.
This is not to say that some couples don’t make time for solitude, but it can be more difficult when you have a family, or you have social obligations to attend to for two people.
3) Single people have more time for leisure
Research suggests that single people spend an average of 5.56 hours a day on overall leisure activities, compared to married people, who spend an average of 4.87 hours a day on leisure.
This leaves more time for single people to engage in sports, exercise, recreation, TV, games and leisurely computer use.
Fairly obvious to point out, but who doesn’t want that?
Leisurely activities are a great way to reduce stress and find added meaning in life, which leads us to our next point…
4) Single people report experiencing more personal growth
In a study of 1,000 single people and 3,000 married people, single people reported higher levels of learning, positive change and growth.
Single people were also more likely to believe that new experiences were important to challenge how they think about the world and themselves.
It seems intuitive that single people are more likely to focus on bettering themselves, as they have one less person to worry about.
5) Single people have fewer legal liabilities
As LearnVest has reported, marrying someone makes you legally responsible for their financial missteps, whether that means assuming equal responsibility for their debt or becoming part of lawsuits filed against them.
Of course, if you’re going to go the distance and marry someone, you’d think you’d know everything about them and trust them completely, but this kind of thing has happened to others before.
6) Single people tend to have less credit card debt
Debt.com reported that single people are less likely to have credit card debt than married people.
Why?
Because married couples are more likely to have a family and a home. Children and property don’t come cheap.
7) Single women tend to earn higher salaries
As sexist as this is, a recent study found that women see bigger salaries when they’re single compared to their married counterparts.
The reason why was not reported. Perhaps it’s because single women are more ambitious as they have to fend for themselves.
Or more pessimistically, perhaps it because men in positions of power are making these decisions.
Let’s hope not.
8) Single men tend to work fewer hours than married men
The same study highlighted above found that single men between 28-30 work 441 fewer hours outside the home per year than do their married peers, while men between 44 and 46 work 403 fewer hours if they are single.
Again, kids and property don’t come cheap.
9) Single people tend to exercise more
Researchers from the University of Maryland found that men and women the ages of 18 and 64 who had never been married tend to exercise a lot more than their divorced or married counterparts.
It’s also been reported that married men were 25% more likely to be overweight or obese compared to single men.
As mentioned above, single people are more likely to have greater leisure time, leaving more time to exercise.
However, this doesn’t explain why divorced people don’t exercise as much. Perhaps routine has something to do with it?
10) Single people tend to sleep better
We can all agree that getting a good night’s sleep is pretty important.
And according to a survey, single people tend to get the most sleep – an average of 7.13 hours a night – compared to people in relationships, whether they are married or not.
The reasons for this are fairly clear. When you have someone next to you, it can be harder sometimes to get to sleep and stay asleep.
