Is wellness contagious?

To assess the likelihood of disease development we often look at family members, such as parents and siblings that share our genetic makeup. 

Spouses usually don’t – they’re customarily not related to us – but do their health characteristics predict our own?

In sickness and in health

When one spouse becomes obese over time, the other spouse is chances of becoming obese nearly doubles. Studies suggest that the risk of hypertension, lipid abnormalities, and abnormal glucose tolerance also tend to match in couples.

A new study in Atherosclerosis including more than 33,000 couples from Japan and the Netherlands looked at several heart risk factors among the pairs. In both countries the couple members were found to have concordant blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, hypertension, diabetes and metabolic syndrome – the likelihood that these risk factors or abnormalities would similarly affect both spouses was significantly higher in the study participants.

Which isn’t a huge surprise. People often choose spouses who are like them and mating isn’t random. A smoker is more likely to marry another smoker, and a fitness enthusiast will more likely connect with a like minded athletically inclined.

But there’s much more to it, as people who live together share an environment, and therefore tend to share lifestyle and diet; with time the effects of these grow stronger, shaping our health trajectories. 

And then there’s the microbiome. We now know that couples share similar bacteria in their gut, and our microbiome composition is linked with chronic disease risk.

These studies help emphasize how central lifestyle choices are to the likelihood of many chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes – genetic makeup predicts just a small part, and your habits affect health outcomes much more.

Talk to the spouse

The authors suggest using these findings to better facilitate wellness goals: “Our study provides a basis for preventive strategies and interventions targeting spouses, rather than individuals. Future studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of couple-based interventions to simultaneously reduce the cardiovascular risk of both spouses.”

In much the same way, parents' behaviors affect kids’ emerging habits, and eating well and exercising spreads within families without a word being said.

Contagion goes both ways

Our social group shapes us, and we shape it in return. When you bear that in mind, rather than seeing behaviors within your close circle as permission to do the same, each of these should be examined. With positive behaviors, allow yourself to be reflexively led. With others, know that if you make a change for the better, it’s quite possible that you’ll not only help yourself, but you might also endow your close people with effortless health benefits. 

The ripple effects of eating well go even beyond those of driving carefully or having a positive attitude, as the mechanisms of contagion are multiple. 

Dr. Ayala