They say a happy marriage is good for your blood pressure, but a stressed one can be bad for it.

In a preliminary study which included 204 married people and 99 single men and women, the researchers from Brigham Young University's psychology department found that happily married people had the best blood pressure while the singles ranked second.

The unhappily married meanwhile had the worst blood pressure of the three groups.

Study participants were 20-68 years old, with an average age of 31; most of the singles - 89 percent - had never been married and none was living with a partner while married participants had been married for eight years, on average.

Monitors recorded blood pressure at random intervals throughout the day even while participants slept and each participant's blood pressure level was recorded about 72 times.

Professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad says men and women in happy marriages scored four points lower on 24-hour blood pressure than single adults and having a network of supportive friends did not translate into improved blood pressure for singles or the unhappily married which was surprising.

Prior studies have shown that married people tend to be healthier than singles.

Diet, exercise, smoking and stress are other factors which also affect blood pressure which refers to the force exerted by circulating blood on the walls of blood vessels, and is one of the principal vital signs.

Professor Holt-Lunstad, a psychologist who studies relationships and health, says there appears to be some unique health benefits from a happy marriage.

The study is published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

Patients assigned to weight loss diets, orlistat or sibutramine reduced their body weight more effectively than did patients in the usual care/placebo groups, the authors write. Reduction of blood pressure was higher in patients treated with weight loss diets or orlistat. Sibutramine treatment, however, did not lower overall blood pressure and appeared to increase systolic (top number) blood pressure.

A reduction in body weight of approximately 4 kilograms [8.8 pounds] was necessary to achieve a reduction of approximately 6 milligrams of mercury in systolic blood pressure with dietary treatment and of approximately 2.5 milligrams of mercury with orlistat, the authors write. None of the studies provided data to answer the question whether risk of mortality [death] or other patient-relevant end points can be lowered by weight reduction.

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