{"id":173,"date":"2007-09-27T14:06:32","date_gmt":"2007-09-27T21:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mayanrocks.com\/wordpress\/?p=173"},"modified":"2007-09-27T14:06:32","modified_gmt":"2007-09-27T21:06:32","slug":"happily-unmarried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mayanrocks.com\/?p=173","title":{"rendered":"Happily unmarried."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"divorceAttention, unmarried people of America: You can splurge on a fancy new wrist watch without having to explain yourself. You can stay out till 3 a.m. without having to phone home. You can leave the toilet seat up. In fact, there are many, many ways that single life rocks, though you may forget that fact when your relatives are grilling you about settling down. Not only do you have the freedom to do anything you want\u2014it\u2019s also the best time in history to be flying solo. Want more specifics on why you should celebrate being single?<\/p>\n

Reason #1: You have a better body.<\/strong> We\u2019ve all been there\u2014you get into a relationship, and suddenly you\u2019re trying out new recipes all the time and cuddling instead of exercising. Well, things tend to get worse with marriage. A recent Cornell University study found that women generally gain five to eight pounds in the first few years of marriage and unhappily married women gain an average of 54 pounds in the first 10 years.For the unmarried, though, the motivation to stay slim remains: \u201cSingles look at themselves through the eyes of others and want to be attractive to potential partners,\u201d says Susan Davis, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in New York City, \u201cso they\u2019re still \u2018working on themselves.\u2019\u201d In short, being single is way better than any New Year\u2019s resolution or exercise DVD to motivate you to stay in shape.<\/p>\n

Reason #2: You\u2019re more likely to achieve great things.<\/strong> It\u2019s amazing what you can accomplish when you have the time, the quiet and the lack of familial responsibilities. In fact, your premarital motivation to excel in life may be biologically programmed. According to a study conducted at the London School of Economics and Political Scientists, male scientists who stay single longer peak in their careers later in life and tend to be more productive than their married counterparts. Researchers theorize that men, in general, may show off their talents to win the interest of women and then, once they\u2019ve won a wife, get comfortable and do less. In fact, studies have shown that testosterone levels, which boost action, decrease after a man gets married and has children. So single folk should know they are primed to achieve\u2014whether that means turbo-charging their careers or honing their rock-climbing skills\u2014and get out there and work it!<\/p>\n

Reason #3: You do less housework.<\/strong> You know that saying about a tree falling in a forest and there\u2019s no one there to hear it? Well, if you leave a sock on the floor but there\u2019s no one else there to see it, does it really need to be picked up? If you\u2019re a single woman, you can contemplate deep questions like this one because you have more free time. According to one study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, women do less housework when single than when married. Men, on the other hand, do more housework when unmarried (that\u2019s probably because there\u2019s someone picking up after them once they\u2019re wed\u2026). So the message here is for unmarried women to enjoy their less chore-filled life; fill those free hours with classes, good books, blabbing with friends\u2014whatever makes you happy.<\/p>\n

Reason #4: You can do what you want with your money\u2014including keep it.<\/strong> Go ahead: Splurge on that pricey moisturizer or that obscenely large plasma TV you\u2019ve been lusting after. You don\u2019t have to justify your purchase to anyone but yourself. Once you mix money with marriage, though, things change\u2014and fast. According to a survey by SmartMoney magazine, 40 percent of women and 36 percent of men have lied to their spouses about a purchase. \u201cWhen you\u2019re single, your finances are your own,\u201d explains Phyllis Chase, a Los Angeles\u2013based psychologist and co-host of the radio show Shrink Rap. \u201cWhen you\u2019re married, you have to deal with different styles of spending and saving, and you may take on your partner\u2019s debt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reason #5: You have better sex.<\/strong> Married couples may have more sex (approximately 98 times a year vs. singles\u2019 49), but singles have better sex. According to a recent study published in the British Medical Journal, married women are significantly more likely to report problems with their sex lives than single women. \u201cPeople who are dating have better sex because it\u2019s novel,\u201d says Davis. \u201cMarried people have to relearn how to play. It\u2019s natural for singles because that\u2019s the nature of a courting relationship\u2014they tease, they experiment, they explore.\u201d Nature lends a helping hand, too. According to researchers at the University of Pisa in Italy, raging testosterone levels in both men and women makes the sex hotter during the first two years of a relationship. After that, other hormones take over\u2014most notably, oxytocin, a bonding chemical, kicks in. While getting connected and comfortable is a positive step in a relationship, long-term lovers have to work harder to keep things hot in the bedroom. Singles, however, sizzle just the way they are.<\/p>\n

Reason #6: You\u2019re better rested and smarter.<\/strong> While snuggling up next to a warm body can be pretty fantastic, according to a survey conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, your bedmate can cause you to lose an average of 49 minutes of sleep per night. Sleeping two-to-a-bed just isn\u2019t as restful as snoozing solo. Other studies confirm that singles generally get more rest\u2014seven to eight hours of sleep a night\u2014than marrieds, which enhances memory, mood and concentration, as well as allows your immune system to recharge.<\/p>\n

Reason #7: You\u2019re less depressed.<\/strong> Although the media often perpetuates the image of single people being down in the dumps, overall unmarried people tend to be happier than their married counterparts\u2014if you\u2019re a woman, that is.<\/p>\n

Reason #8: You have better friendships.<\/strong> Significant others are a wonderful thing, no doubt, but friends count, too. And on that front, one study found that, when women get married and have children, they spend much less time with their friends\u2014less than five hours a week, down from 14 hours. Singles, however, often have the greatest sense of friendship and community\u2014which can actually decrease stress levels, according to researchers at UCLA. Here’s another way to look at this: \u201cSingles don\u2019t rely on just one person to meet their needs. You don\u2019t automatically know who you\u2019re going to spend Friday night with,\u201d says Sasha Cagen, author of Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics. \u201cThe plus side is that you have a lot of different people in your life and potentially a greater sense of social possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reason #9: Your travel tales are enviable.<\/strong> Marrieds take the most vacations, dominating the market with 62 percent of all trips taken, but singles arguably go on more interesting trips. According to the Travel Industry Association of America, singles corner the adventure-travel market, engaging in activities like whitewater rafting, scuba diving and mountain biking. Being single and relatively footloose certainly allows you to expand your geographical\u2014and personal\u2014borders.<\/p>\n

Reason #10: You know yourself\u2014and what you want out of a relationship.<\/strong> You\u2019re a better catch now than you were at 20. You may have signs of, ahem, experience etched on your face, but that\u2019s OK because you\u2019re more interesting and more self-aware. Not only have you grown as a person, but you\u2019ve probably been through the ringer a few times in matters of love and now know what you want\u2014and what you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s a wonderful message: Your single self is great… and should you find the right person and decide to marry, you\u2019re more likely to thrive in that stage of your life, too.<\/p>\n

(Via The Worm-Hole Laboratory<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attention, unmarried people of America: You can splurge on a fancy new wrist watch without having to explain yourself. You can stay out till 3 a.m. without having to phone home. You can leave the toilet seat up. In fact, there are many, many ways that single life rocks, though you may forget that fact […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-relationships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayanrocks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayanrocks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayanrocks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayanrocks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayanrocks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mayanrocks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayanrocks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayanrocks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayanrocks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}