How Fitness and Physical Health Can Save Your Marriage

Individuals can experience many benefits from having a fitness routine. Aside from staying in good physical health, living an active lifestyle also improves mental health. People often report feeling better after exercising due to the release of the feel-good chemicals known as endorphins.

Fitness can help married couples, too. Participating in a workout regimen — no matter how serious or relaxed, or whether it’s done together or separately — can strengthen the bond between two married partners and improve their moods when they are in one another’s presence. Through physical fitness, they also can become more attracted to one another, strengthening their romantic connection, and also improve themselves as individuals.

Doing an Activity Together

Even if the exercise activity isn’t done at the same time and in each other’s presence, simply participating in a fitness regimen can be considered doing something with your partner. You can discuss the successes and challenges and motivate one another along the way.

There are added benefits from actually participating in a physical activity with your partner, such as simply being in the presence of and interacting with one another.

“In a study published by the Australian government’s Institute of Family Studies,” Todd Foley wrote for the website of Canadian organization Focus on the Family, “researchers noted that the longest-married couples held up their shared experiences and memories as a chief factor in their relationships.”

These findings show that spending more time together can improve a marriage. Even an activity such as exercising is a shared experience and a way for two people to bond.

Becoming Goal-Oriented

Setting and accomplishing goals is one of the best benefits of being active. Not only does it allow people to work toward physical milestones such as weight loss or muscle gain, but experiencing accomplishment often deters feelings of anxiety or depression. People become proud of themselves and that feeling can carry over to other aspects of their life.

Setting and accomplishing goals in tandem can lead to positive mutual feelings as a couple. Even if these goals are completed separately, the support shown to one another is still a team effort. The pride that each of you now has in the other, and in yourselves as a whole, can lead to happier attitudes throughout the relationship. Being happier can have a carryover effect, too, because someone feeling good about themselves will result in others enjoying spending time in their presence. That includes a spouse, who will feel the same positive feelings about herself.

Gaining Pride in Your Partner

What else does fitness do for a marriage? Aside from gaining pride in themselves, people also develop the same feeling about their partner. Beyond even the pride someone feels for the marriage, a healthy view of your partner as an individual also is important.

If a marriage is struggling — due to financial strain, a lack of romance or other real-life obligations getting in the way — people sometimes no longer have the same feelings of love for their significant other. If they watch them participate in a fitness program, that could reignite those feelings as they admire their accomplishments and recognize some of the positive attributes shown during the process: perseverance, commitment and a desire to improve themselves.