We already knew that marriage is good for your health. So it stands to reason that being married to more than person would be even better for your health, right?
Wrong, “Sister Wives” fans. In a new study on the health risks of polygamy, researchers found that men with multiple wives have four times the risk of heart disease. The study found that the presence and severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) actually increases with the number of wives, reports ScienceDaily. The stress and physical strain of handling multiple households could be the cause, surmised the Telegraph UK. One wife is good for you, gentlemen, but any more could be a real health risk!
It is worth noting that researchers studied families in the Arab world, not in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Researchers at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Dentre in Jennah, Saudi Arabia studied 687 men in total: 68% had one wife, 19% had two wives, 10% had three wives, and 3% had four wives.
What accounts for the stress brought on by polygamy? According to research author Dr. Daoulah, the wives of polygamist men tend to reside in separate households. Dr. Daolah suggests that polygamist husbands suffer the stressful “emotional expense” of running between households and attempting to treat each spouse “fairly and equally” (to say nothing of the children borne by these various women).
And — because we know you were wondering — they also addressed the sex question: Researchers suggest that increased levels of physical activity and intimacy needed to maintain multiple marriages should be analyzed in future studies.
