Here’s to us! Research shows that couples who drink together live longer and have better marriages

There’s nothing like sharing a romantic bottle of wine on a date night.

Research now shows that couples who drink together can even live longer.

Scientists examined data from more than 4,500 married or cohabiting couples, who were interviewed every two years for twenty years.

And they discovered that couples live longer when they both drink alcohol.

Dr. Kira Birditt, a research professor at the University of Michigan, said a theory called the “drinking partnership” – in which couples with similar patterns of alcohol consumption tend to have better marriages – was the inspiration behind the study.

The results also showed that light drinking predicted better survival among individuals and their partners compared to heavy drinking (stock image)

“The aim of this study was to look at alcohol use in couples and the implications for mortality,” she said.

‘And we found, interestingly, that couples who both reported drinking alcohol in the past three months lived longer than the other couples who either both reported not drinking, or had a discordant drinking pattern in which one drank and the other did not. ‘

When two individuals exhibit similar drinking behavior, it may reflect compatibility between partners in their lifestyle, intimacy and relationship satisfaction, the researchers said.

‘We’ve also found in other studies that couples who drink together tend to have better relationship quality, and that may be because it increases intimacy,’ says Dr Birditt.

But while the findings may sound like a recommendation to drink more with your partner, Dr. Birditt cautioned against that interpretation.

That’s because the study defined “drinking” very broadly, examining whether or not a participant had had a drink in the past three months.

The results also showed that light drinking predicted better survival among individuals and their partners compared to heavy drinking.

Dr. Birditt said further research focusing on couples who both drink – looking at their daily lives, whether they drink together and what they do when they drink – could help explain the link.

The study, published in the journal The Gerontologist, concluded: ‘This study advances the field by demonstrating that survival varies as a function of one’s own and one’s partner’s alcohol consumption.’