Here’s to us! Couples who drink together live longer and have better marriages, research suggests

There’s nothing quite like sharing a romantic bottle of wine during date night.

Now, research suggests that couples that drink together might even live longer too.

Scientists examined data on more than 4,500 married or cohabiting couples, who were interviewed every two years over the space of two decades.

And they discovered that couples tend to live longer if they both drink alcohol.

Dr Kira Birditt, a research professor at the University of Michigan, said a theory called the ‘drinking partnership’ – where couples who have similar patterns of alcohol use tend to have better marriages – was the inspiration behind the study.

Research suggests that couples that drink together might even live longer too (stock photo)

Results also showed that light drinking predicted better survival rates among individuals and their partners compared to heavy drinking (stock image) 

‘The purpose of this study was to look at alcohol use in couples and the implications for mortality,’ she said.

‘And we found, interestingly, that couples in which both indicated drinking alcohol in the last three months lived longer than the other couples that either both indicated not drinking or had discordant drinking patterns in which one drank and the other did not.’

When two individuals have similar drinking behaviours it may be a reflection of compatibility among partners in their lifestyles, intimacy and relationship satisfaction, the researchers said.

‘We’ve also found in other studies that couple who drink together tend to have better relationship quality, and it might be because it increases intimacy,’ Dr Birditt said.

But while the findings may sound like a recommendation to drink more with your spouse, Dr Birditt cautioned against that interpretation.

That’s because the study defined ‘drinking’ very broadly, examining whether or not a participant had had a drink within the last three months.

Results also showed that light drinking predicted better survival rates among individuals and their partners compared to heavy drinking.

Dr Birditt said further research focusing on couples who both drink – looking at their daily lives, whether they drink together and what they are doing when they are drinking – could help explain the link.

The study, published in The Gerontologist journal, concluded: ‘This study moves the field forward by showing that survival varies as a function of one’s own and one’s partner’s drinking.’