Abstract 
 
 This article addresses a debate about the relationship of singlehood and informal ties—singlehood as isolating versus integrative—and evaluates structural explanations for this relationship, focusing on life course characteristics and socioeconomic resources. Using the National Survey of Families and Households (1992–1994) and the General Social Survey (2000, 2004, 2006, 2012), we examine ties to relatives, neighbors, and friends among U.S. adults. We find that single individuals are more likely to frequently stay in touch with, provide help to, and receive help from parents, siblings, neighbors, and friends than the married. These differences between the single and the married are more prominent for the never married than for the previously married, suggesting that marriage extends its reach after it ends. Being single increases the social connections of both women and men. Overall, much of the positive relationship between singlehood and social ties remains even when we take into account structural explanations. We conclude that instead of promoting marriage, policy should acknowledge the social constraints associated with marriage and recognize that single individuals have greater involvement with the broader community. ||||| You’re all about that Leo life: rich, single, travelling the world, hanging with your Hollywood pals and partying with Victoria’s Secret models on yachts. 
 
 Well, at least the “single” part. 
 
 It’s easy to romanticise the idea of the uncoupled man, but even Clooney settled down eventually. If he can do it, and if all your friends on social media are flooding your feed with engagement announcements and wedding pics, is it time you finally worked through your fear of commitment? 
 
 There’s no doubt that coupling up comes with benefits, but research suggests that flying solo comes with perks of its own. Whether you’re bachelor by choice or just between dates, here are 8 science-backed benefits of being single. 
 
 #1 More Exercise 
 
 It’s obvious when you think about it. Singletons are more motivated to hit the gym because they want to stay fit to attract a mate. They also have more time to dedicate to exercise than their partnered-up peers. Single men never have to cancel CrossFit for dinner with the in-laws, or skip Saturday morning yoga because cuddling sounds better. 
 
 A 2004 study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family examined the exercise habits of more than 13,000 men and women between the ages of 18 and 64. Those who had never been married exercised more each week than those who were either married or divorced, regardless of age or gender. 
 
 #2 Better Health Overall 
 
 A variety of studies have looked at the impacts marriage and singledom can have on health. Neither one is necessarily healthier across the board, but being single does seem to have some significant health benefits. A 2006 study, for example, found that rates of heart disease were lowest among individuals who had never been married. Multiple surveys have also found that single people are less likely to put on weight than people in relationships. 
 
 #3 Less Housework 
 
 Hate doing chores? Don’t move a partner into your bachelor pad. According to a 2008 study, getting married means seven extra hours a week of housework for women and one fewer hour of housework per week for men. 
 
 It doesn’t sound like a disadvantage for men at first, but here’s the catch: both the men and the women who got married did more housework than those who stayed single. Leaving dirty dishes in the sink just doesn’t fly when you have a partner to please. 
 
 #4 Stronger Social Connections 
 
 Being alone is not the same thing as being lonely. Single people may be more conscious of avoiding feelings of isolation, maintaining stronger connections to friends and family as a result. A 2012 study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family reported that married people are less likely than single people to keep in contact with friends, family, and neighbours. A more recent study had similar findings. 
 
 #5 Less Debt 
 
 Money doesn’t buy happiness, but a lack of it can certainly be stressful. A 2001 survey in the Journal of Finance and Accountancy found significant differences in debt based on family type. About 21% of single people had credit card debt, compared to 27% of married couples without children. Couples with children, unsurprisingly, had the greatest debt of all (36%) due to their higher expenses. 
 
 #6 Less Stress 
 
 More debt equals more stress, more stress makes you more prone to a range of mental and physical problems. And money troubles are only one way coupledom can be responsible for a more stress-filled life. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who studied 116 married and/or cohabiting adults over the course of 11 years, found that marital stress may make people more vulnerable to depression. 
 
 #7 Fewer Conflicts 
 
 No one enjoys fighting, but if you’re especially uncomfortable with conflict, staying single may be beneficial for your psychological health. According to a 2015 study, individuals who are conflict-averse (which means that relationship fights and arguments trigger severe stress) will experience less anxiety when they’re single. 
 
 “Most people are happier in relationships,” reports The Washington Post. “But according to the study, that increase in happiness is starker for people who handle conflict well (“low avoidance”) and those who try to maximize closeness and bonding in all types of relationships (what the researchers deemed “high in approach goals”)…. folks who are conflict-averse tended to be happier single than they might be in relationships.” 
 
 #8 Better Sleep 
 
 Your beauty rest is important, and it’s harder to reach adequate levels of handsomeness when your partner snoozes in full starfish mode. A partner could also have a sleep disorder that disturbs your slumber, or an incompatible bedtime, or a bad habit of shifting restlessly during the night. 
 
 An online survey conducted by the Sleep Council of England found that out of 1,408 couples, one in four people regularly turns to a spare room or sofa to get a good night’s sleep. Make the most of your shuteye while you’re single by learning how to have the best sleep possible. ||||| A long-term study by UW–Madison researchers shows that people who experience chronic marital stress are less able to savor positive experiences, a hallmark of depression. Photo: iStock photo 
 
 Marital stress may make people more vulnerable to depression, according to a recent study by University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers and their colleagues. 
 
 The long-term study, published in the April 2014 issue of the journal Psychophysiology, shows that people who experience chronic marital stress are less able to savor positive experiences, a hallmark of depression. They are also more likely to report other depressive symptoms. 
 
 The findings are important, says study leader Richard Davidson, UW–Madison William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, because they could help researchers understand what makes some people more vulnerable to mental and emotional health challenges. 
 
 Richard Davidson 
 
 They might also help scientists develop tools to prevent them. 
 
 “This is not an obvious consequence, if you will, of marital stress, but it’s one I think is extraordinarily important because of the cascade of changes that may be associated,” says Davidson, founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the UW’s Waisman Center. “This is the signature of an emotional style that reveals vulnerability to depression.” 
 
 Married people are, in general, happier and healthier than single people, according to numerous studies. But marriage can also be one of the most significant sources of long-lasting social stress. It’s not all wedded bliss. 
 
 The researchers thought chronic marital stress could provide a good model for how other common daily stressors may lead to depression and similar conditions. 
 
 “How is it that a stressor gets under your skin and how does that make some more vulnerable to maladaptive responses?” says UW–Madison graduate student Regina Lapate. She is the paper’s lead author. 
 
 Regina Lapate 
 
 For the longitudinal study — part of the National Institute on Aging-funded Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study directed by Carol Ryff, director of the Institute on Aging at UW–Madison — researchers recruited married adult participants to complete questionnaires rating their stress on a six-point scale. 
 
 They were asked questions like how often they felt let down by their partner or how frequently their spouse criticized them. They were also evaluated for depression. 
 
 Roughly nine years later, the questionnaire and depression assessments were repeated. 
 
 In year 11, the participants were invited to the laboratory to undergo emotional response testing, a means of measuring their resilience. Resilience, from an emotional perspective, reflects how quickly a person can recover from a negative experience. 
 
 The participants were shown 90 images, a mix of negative, neutral and positive photographs such as a smiling mother-daughter pair. The electrical activity of the corrugator supercilii, also known as the frowning muscle, was measured to assess the intensity and duration of their response. 
 
 Married people are, in general, happier and healthier than single people, according to numerous studies. But marriage can also be one of the most significant sources of long-lasting social stress. 
 
 As the nickname suggests, the frowning muscle activates more strongly during a negative response. At rest, the muscle has a basal level of tension but during a positive emotional response, the muscle becomes more relaxed. 
 
 Measuring how activated or relaxed the muscle becomes and how long it takes to reach the basal level again is a reliable way to measure emotional response and the tool has been used before to assess depression. 
 
 “It’s a nice way to get at what people are experiencing without asking people for their emotional response: ‘How are you feeling?'” Lapate says. 
 
 Prior studies have shown that depressed individuals have a fleeting response following positive emotional triggers. Davidson was interested in not just how much a muscle relaxes or tenses when a person looks at an image but also in how long it takes the response to subside. 
 
 “If you measure at just one time point, you are losing valuable information,” says Lapate. 
 
 Davidson and colleagues found the five to eight seconds following exposure to positive images most significant. 
 
 “To paraphrase the bumper sticker: ‘Stress happens.’ There is no such thing as leading a life completely buffered from the slings and arrows of everyday life.” Richard Davidson 
 
 Study participants who reported higher marital stress had shorter-lived responses to positive images than those reporting more satisfaction in their unions. There was no significant difference in the timing of negative responses. 
 
 Now, Davidson is interested in how to help people change this weakened ability to enjoy positive experiences, to enable them to become more resilient to stress. 
 
 “To paraphrase the bumper sticker: ‘Stress happens,'” says Davidson. “There is no such thing as leading a life completely buffered from the slings and arrows of everyday life.” 
 
 By understanding the mechanisms that make individuals more prone to depression and other emotional disturbances, Davidson is hoping to find tools — such as meditation — to stop it from happening in the first place. 
 
 “How we can use simple interventions to actually change this response?” he asks. “What can we do to learn to cultivate a more resilient emotional style?”
– While there are a bunch of studies showing that married folks seem to be happier than those who've stuck to singledom, a new study out of Bowling Green State University has found an apparent exception: older women who've never said "I do," per Live Science. The research, presented at the American Sociological Association's annual meeting in August, culled almost 40 years of data from the University of Chicago's national General Social Survey, in which more than 51,000 US adults were asked to rate their typical happiness level as "very happy," "pretty happy," or "not too happy." Researchers then compared data from various groups, including the never-marrieds, the still-marrieds, divorced people, and those who had lost their spouses. The scientists also broke it down further for people ages 60 and older, as widowed and divorced people tend to be on the older side. To their surprise, the researchers found "never-married, older women are, in a lot of years [of the survey], indistinguishable from ... married older women," co-researcher Gary Ralph Lee says, noting the same didn't hold true on the men's side—never-married males tended to have the same happiness levels as divorced and widowed men. The survey didn't allow for more insight into why the older ladies seem to be more content, though Lee mentions it could be that they've learned to adapt to being single and they instead draw satisfaction from careers, friends, and family. While not speaking specifically to the older female demographic, D'Marge does point out a few studies that have suggested singles exercise more, maintain better social networks, and may not be as vulnerable to depression as their married friends. (How happy you are depends on how you deal with conflict.)