Healthy Life‐Style Across the Life‐Span: The Heck with the Surgeon General!

Romantic Relationships and Health: An Examination of Individuals’ Perceptions of their Romantic Partners’ Influences on their Health

“…Consistent with this notion, single people have somewhat better health outcomes than those in low quality relationships (Glenn and Weaver 1981;McCabe et al 1996), and unhappy relationships are associated with a decreased chance of individuals making positive health behavior changes, decreased well-being, increased mental disorders, greater health problems, and mortality (Hintikka et al 1999;Robles and Kiecolt-Glaser 2003;Schafer et al 2000;Walen and Lachman 2000). Indeed, some researchers have cautioned that finding a romantic partner or getting married is not an antidote to ill health or the key to happiness (Friedman 2000(Friedman , 2003Tucker et al 1996).…”

Stability of Physical Activity across the Lifespan

“…Such broad attempts can backfire, be ineffective, or have unintended consequences over time. For example, in the US government campaigns to limit fat consumption, a lean and trim population did not result (Friedman, 2003;Taubes, 2001;Wilfley & Brownell, 1994); instead, as the government educated the public about fat intake, the average person became more obese, for a variety of reasons that are not fully understood. This suggests that greater attention should be directed toward individual patterns, as a complement to epidemiological investigations.…”