Chapter 8 & 9

I was not surprised by most of the details of Chapter 8. It discussed how finding hobbies to stay active in more important than simply training for a marathon. This continues to play into the theme of the individualization in health and finding what works for each person. If you hate jogging but love playing tennis, throw away your running shoes and buy tennis ones.

Chapter 9 was more interesting to me because it discussed the question I’ve been waiting to read about: do married people really live longer? The answer that I took away was yes. If you get married, you live longer because you have someone there to care for you, get you to go to the doctor if you need it, remind you to take pills, and take away stress from your life. On the other hand, chances are you will not live as long if you go through a divorce. I found this really interesting in addition to the differences in gender. Apparently, men are more affected by divorce than women. One of the big takeaways I found from this chapter was the idea that personality plays a huge role in whether we get divorced or not. In some ways, I found this chapter to relate very nicely to Chapter 5 of Straub in which coping with stress is discussed. If people who are better at coping with stress and moving on from a divorce will live longer than those who never get remarried, possibly just sitting in loneliness.

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One Response to Chapter 8 & 9

  1. Alexandra Maniglia says:

    Hi Natalie,
    I was also not very surprised by some of the information discussed in chapter 8. The information made logical sense and I already knew some of the facts discussed before reading. I found chapter 9 more intriguing. I never really realized that men are more affected by divorce and that happiness in a marriage is dependent on the husbands happiness. What happens in gay couples? Whose happiness is more important to longevity? I predict that it would be the breadwinner’s happiness that is essential to a healthy marriage and life.

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