We’ll look at the benefits and risks of doing so and slip under the covers with the…, Mental exhaustion isn’t just feeling stress — it’s the accumulation of stress over time. Opie C, Atkinson QD, Dunbar RI, Shultz S. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. An unsatisfying relationship is associated with poor health, especially for women. In the USA, monogamy rates have increased significantly since the 1970s. Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, 2011 Jan;32(1):53-69. A monogamic bond strongly favors the evolution of male investment in the raising of offspring, as is the case in most birds (90% of bird species are monogamic and most exhibit biparental care of young). Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2012 Jan 25.The benefit and the doubt: why monogamy? Is eating before you sleep the cardinal sin it’s made out to be? Acevedo, B.P., Aron, A., Fisher, H.E., et al. Young, K.A., Gobrogge, K.L., Liu, Y., et al. Mate-guarding, in particular the guarding by males of females with a good territory or of females that accept the territory of a male, has been shown to be the most important selective pressure leading to the evolution of monogamy. Intimacy between two is also linked to lower rates of depression, higher immunity, and better heart healthThe neurobiology of pair bonding: insights from a socially monogamous rodent. In fact, this is rather common. And a monogamous partnership doesn’t automatically benefit our health. Cooperative breeding and monogamy in mammalian societies, Neural correlates of long-term intense romantic love, Heterosexual, lesbian, and gay male relationships: a comparison of couples in 1975 and 2000, Estimating the strength of sexual selection from Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA diversity, The neurobiology of pair bonding: insights from a socially monogamous rodent, Marital status and colon cancer outcomes in US Surveillance, Epidemiology and End results registries: does marriage affect cancer survival by gender and stage, Genetic variation in the vasopressin receptor 1a gene (AVPR1A) associates with pair-bonding behavior in humans, Conflict and collaboration in middle-aged and older couples: I. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2012 Feb;7(2):145-59. A tendency to social monogamy has evolved, however, and is subject to strong reinforcement by cultural factors, particularly religion. Therapy is a great tool for managing stress and related problems. Gotta, G., Green, R.J., Rotblum E., et al. Benefits include the (relative) certainty of access to the partner's reproductive potential, but the chief disadvantage is that access to other potential partners is strongly diminished, particularly in those cases where males exhibit strong mate-guarding behavior. 2013 Aug 13;110(33):13328-32. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1307903110. Most mammals (including most humans) are polygamous, meaning they have more than one mate at a time. 1997 Sep 22;264(1386):1261-70. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1997.0174. Smith, T.W., Berg, C.A., Florsheim, P., et al. Department of Psychology and Program in Neuroscience, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL. This site needs JavaScript to work properly. Monogamy in animals is useful if 1) the species lives a long time 2) the young require a great deal of help to survive and one parent can’t do it all. Need to know something, anything about sleep? Get the latest public health information from CDC: https://www.coronavirus.gov. Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. Wade, M.J. Shuster, S.M. Age differences in agency and communion during marital interaction. These 10 Sex Tips Might Change Your Mind. Lukas, D., Clutton-Brock, T. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge UK. But, in 2008, Americans were 10 percent more likely to say lipstick on the collar was wrong than they were in the 1970s; one study estimates about three quarters of married people today stay faithful to their spouses.