Don't Get Married… It May Lead to Dementia

"Forget marriage, buddy… solo life is so much better!" — that’s what veteran actor Kota Srinivasa Rao sings in a popular Telugu film. According to recent research, there might be more truth to that than just a catchy dialogue. Living solo — that is, staying unmarried — may actually protect you from certain health conditions, particularly dementia.

Researchers from the University of Florida have made a startling claim: people who never marry have a significantly lower risk of developing dementia — a memory-impairing and mind-altering illness that can later lead to Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is known for its devastating effects, and managing patients becomes extremely difficult as the disease progresses.

The researchers say that staying single is actually better than getting married — at least when it comes to mental health. If someone already has early signs of dementia before marriage, the condition may worsen after marriage, they observed. In other words, marriage doesn’t cure madness… it might actually intensify it.

That’s not all — the study also found that several other illnesses are less common among unmarried people compared to their married counterparts. This wasn’t a small-scale study either. The findings are based on research conducted over 18 years involving 24,000 participants. The participants were grouped into four categories: married, divorced, widowed, and never married. The never-married group showed the least impact from dementia compared to others.

Interestingly, a study conducted in the U.S. in 2019 had suggested the opposite — that married people are generally healthier than unmarried ones. But this new research contradicts that earlier conclusion. According to the latest findings, conditions like heart disease and other ailments are actually more prevalent among married individuals.

So, what’s the verdict? Would you rather get married and risk mental deterioration, or stay single and live a peaceful, healthy life? That’s a decision for each person to make. In today’s world, more people are opting out of marriage — though for various other reasons. But this research just gave them another argument to stay solo.