Getting married really makes you fat! The more affectionate you are, the fatter you get!

Have you ever noticed a phenomenon: people get fatter and fatter after getting married, and this obesity is often not unique to one person, but the couple gets fat together. Even many people who were very thin before marriage also get fat after marriage.

Is this a personal illusion or a universal phenomenon?

Let me give you a direct answer: Congratulations, you have discovered a new phenomenon: coobesity, which is the phenomenon of couples becoming obese together.

So why does the concept of obesity exist? Let’s talk about it today.

Fat-sharing does exist

It stands to reason that it seems to be a common phenomenon that couples gain weight after marriage. However, it is not so easy to study this issue scientifically, because you have to rule out some reasonable doubts.

Let’s take a look at a few simple examples.

1. Adults become obese as they age

As people age, they generally become obese, which can also be seen from the obesity incidence rates in different age groups.

After entering adulthood, the rate of abdominal obesity clearly shows a trend of increasing with age, and marriage is also an adult thing, so the two processes are mixed together.

(Wisconsin Health Atlas)

2Over the years, the overall obesity rate has been rising

Another factor is that the global obesity rate has increased in recent years, which is also very obvious in our country.

With the development of my country's economy and society, the living standards of residents have gradually improved. Coupled with changes in working methods and entertainment methods, the nutritional level of modern people has increased and the amount of exercise has decreased relatively. As a result, the overall incidence of obesity is also gradually increasing.

Image source: Reference [1]

It can be seen from this that in order to prove the problem of shared obesity, we must reasonably exclude the obesity caused by individual aging and social development.

So the researchers conducted a comparison, comparing the weight of theoretically randomly matched couples (non-sorted) with that of real couples.

The results showed that although both combinations showed an overall increasing trend in obesity over time, the obesity rate of couples in reality was higher than that of random combinations [2].

Image source: Reference [2]

This study also means that in reality, there are indeed cases where couples gain weight together after marriage, and it is not simply due to age or social development factors.

This has also been confirmed by relevant research. For example, a group survey showed that from being single, dating to living together or being married for more than 2 years, the obesity level of both parties gradually increases, which also confirms the existence of the phenomenon of shared obesity [3].

Image source: Reference [3]

Why do couples gain weight together?

This issue is rather complicated and may be caused by many factors.

First of all, marriage is not really random, it is common to marry someone who is well matched .

In this era, freedom of love and freedom of marriage have become a basic consensus, and we all think that a couple should be able to form their own choices freely.

However, this may not be the case. In marriage, more people actually make choices based on rules. It is not just a world of appearance, but they tend to choose from the perspective of similar social characteristics, such as education level, economic status, social class, and even religion or ethnicity, which are all important options in marriage selection.

You may not be aware of these factors, but they have subconsciously influenced your choice of a spouse. This phenomenon of matching people based on social status is called homogamy[4].

Therefore, many people like to emphasize the complementary relationship in marriage, or purely random combinations. In fact, most of them are homogeneous marriages. Therefore, couples often have similar hobbies, diets, and living habits, so it is easy for them to become obese together.

Image source: unsplash.com Photographer: Allgo

Secondly, the stress of the couple will be passed on to each other, making the food more tempting.

Stress is everywhere, whether it is emotional stress, work or life stress, or physical stress, it is difficult for everyone to avoid it. Studies have found that stress can be transmitted, which is probably something that many people have experienced in life, that is, other people's stress will be projected onto us, making us feel the same.

It is worth mentioning that this kind of projection effect is also different. The closer the person is, the more likely it is that this kind of stress will be projected onto them. Therefore, the closest existence between husband and wife is also prone to crossover stress between the couple, resulting in increased stress for both of them [5].

In addition, getting married often does not relieve these pressures, and may even create new pressures due to the formation of a new family.

Stress can also lead to obesity . Studies have found that both humans and animals tend to choose pleasant and delicious foods. When faced with stress, such as when nervous, they tend to prefer high-fat and high-sugar foods. Studies have found that when rats are stressed, they prefer high-calorie foods such as lard and sugar[6]. The same is true for humans. When stressed, snacks, fast food, and other high-calorie foods are the choices of humans[7].

Further research has found that stress affects the human brain, especially the mesolimbic dopamine system and other stress-related brain areas, which release cortisol, thereby increasing the brain's sensitivity to stimulation. At this time, people tend to look for food, especially those high-sugar and high-fat foods that are attractive to humans[8]. As a result, people relieve stress and get satisfaction through delicious food, and their bodies begin to gain weight.

In addition, like most animals, people are very concerned about their own image when looking for a mate. Once they have a stable intimate relationship, they may relax their self-management. This is also an important factor in many people becoming obese after marriage.

Is it good or bad for a couple to be obese together?

Obesity is not a good thing. This has become a consensus among the public today. Obesity not only affects the appearance of the body, but also poses a serious threat to human health. Obesity can easily lead to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer. Obesity can also trigger disorders in the movement, breathing, and digestion systems. At present, more than 40 chronic diseases related to obesity have been found. Obesity is indeed not a good thing. From the perspective of physical health, it is recommended not to be obese.

However, this is not absolute. Some studies have found that the happier a couple is in a marriage, the more similar they are to each other. In other words, a couple who are fat together may be quite happy, because much of the fat may come from the delicious food they eat together [9].

This is embarrassing, choosing between being fat and being happy?

Of course the answer is not so. You can lose weight together and be happy together. After all, the delicious food you eat together can also be burned off through joint exercise!

References

[1]Rodgers, Anthony, Alistair Woodward, Boyd Swinburn, and William H. Dietz. "Prevalence trends tell us what did not precipitate the US obesity epidemic." The Lancet Public Health 3, no. 4 (2018): e162-e163.

[2]Wilson, Sven E. "cobesity." Contexts 16, no. 1 (2017): 74-76.

[3]The, Natalie S., and Penny Gordon‐Larsen. "Entry into romantic partnership is associated with obesity." Obesity 17, no. 7 (2009): 1441-1447.

[4]Blackwell, Debra L., and Daniel T. Lichter. "Homogamy among dating, cohabiting, and married couples." The Sociological Quarterly 45, no. 4 (2004): 719-737.

[5]Westman, M. (2006). Crossover of stress and strain in the work-family context. In F. Jones, RJ Burke, & M. Westman (Eds.), Work-life balance: A psychological perspective (pp. 163–184). Psychology Press.

[6]Dallman MF, Pecoraro N, Akana SF, la Fleur SE, Gomez F, Houshyar H, et al. Chronic stress and obesity: A new view of “comfort food”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2003;100(20):11696–701.

[7]Zellner DA, Loaiza S, Gonzalez Z, Pita J, Morales J, Pecora D, et al. Food selection changes under stress. Physiology & behavior. 2006;87(4):789–93

[8]Yau YH, Potenza MN. (2013). Stress and eating behaviors. Minerva Endocrinol, 38(3), 255–267.

[9]Zajonc, RB, Adelmann, PK, Murphy, ST, & Niedenthal, PM (1987). Convergence in the physical appearance of spouses. Motivation and emotion, 11(4), 335-346

Planning and production

Author: Li Lei, PhD in Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Review丨You Shiyou, member of the Chinese Science Writers Association

Planning丨Lin Lin

Editor: Lin Lin