{"id":34337,"date":"2026-08-11T17:46:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T21:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/?p=34337"},"modified":"2026-08-11T09:54:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T13:54:24","slug":"want-a-happier-marriage-new-study-suggests-one-simple-habit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/2026\/08\/want-a-happier-marriage-new-study-suggests-one-simple-habit\/","title":{"rendered":"Want a happier marriage? New study suggests one simple habit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Research has long shown that exercise benefits both physical and mental health. Now a new study from researchers at Brigham Young University suggests that it may also strengthen marriages, especially when couples exercise together<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The study, recently published in\u00a0Family Relations<\/em><\/a>, found that couples who participated in shared physical activity reported better communication, stronger conflict resolution and lower levels of marital stress than couples who did not exercise together.<\/p>\n

The research was conducted by BYU School of Family Life professor Jeremy Yorgason alongside co-author Ashlyn Hiatt Mildenhall, who began the project as an undergraduate researcher at BYU.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur findings suggest that conjoint exercise facilitates, in a small but significant way, the ability to resolve conflict peacefully,<\/strong>\u201d Yorgason said. \u201cPeople reported more positive outcomes in communication and conflict resolution when they exercised together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Researchers analyzed survey data from nearly 1,700 young married couples participating in the nationally representative Couple Relationships and Transition Experiences (CREATE) study, a BYU project that has followed newly married couples across the United States for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

The team compared the effects of individual workouts and physical activity performed together as a couple on three relationship outcomes: communication, conflict resolution and marital stress<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

While both forms or exercise were associated with healthier marriages, exercising together consistently showed stronger associations with positive relationship outcomes than exercising alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout 60% of husbands and wives in the sample said they exercised, but only about a third exercised together,\u201d Yorgason said. \u201cThat means about half the people who exercise are not exercising with their spouse. While the impact is not necessarily large, it is very consistent, which gives me confidence that it is influencing relationships in some meaningful way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other research shows that couples benefit from spending leisure time together<\/strong>, but this study focused specifically on shared physical activity. Researchers say exercising together likely created opportunities for positive interactions and conversation. These can strengthen relationships over time.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut of all three outcomes, exercise had the biggest impact on communication,\u201d Mildenhall said. \u201cThat\u2019s why it was interesting that walking<\/strong> was the number one reported exercise. It naturally provides opportunities to communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walking was the most commonly reported form of shared exercise among couples in the study, suggesting that couples don\u2019t need expensive gym memberships or elaborate weight racks in the garage to reap the potential relationship benefits.<\/p>\n

Researchers also found that couples who exercised together reported better listening and greater feelings of being heard<\/strong> and supported by their spouse. Yorgason says these interactions may help explain why shared exercise was associated with healthier communication and conflict resolution.<\/p>\n

The researchers caution that shared exercise is not a cure for relationship challenges. For many young couples, especially those raising children, exercising together may require intentionally carving out time together. However, researchers say conjoint exercise is one of the many healthy habits families can do to create regular opportunities for connection amid the demands of school, life and parenting.<\/p>\n

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JOURNAL<\/h4>\n

Family Relations<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Research has long shown that exercise benefits both physical and mental health. Now a new study from researchers at Brigham Young University suggests that it may also strengthen marriages, especially when couples exercise together. The study, recently published in\u00a0Family Relations, found that couples who participated in shared physical activity reported better communication, stronger conflict resolution… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34338,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"no","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":70,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[526,789,7],"tags":[20,13,180,49,511,363,12,39],"class_list":["post-34337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behaviour","category-family","category-relationships","tag-behaviour","tag-communication","tag-health-2","tag-mental-health","tag-parenting","tag-perception","tag-psychology","tag-well-being"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34337"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34339,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34337\/revisions\/34339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}