Do single people age faster? The answer may lie in sleep

Romantic relationship quality has been related to physical health, mental health, diet and physical activity (Sailer et al., 2024). Indeed, it would be optimal to have a supporting romantic relationship. However, global marriage rate is declining (https://ourworldindata.org/marriages-and-divorces). Furthermore, infidelity in romantic relationship is also increasing. Back in the year 2000, only about 8% of Chinese people were sexually unfaithful to their partners whereas by 2015, this rate had jumped to more than 24% (Luo and Yu, 2022). Evolutionarily speaking, how does this trend of subpar romantic relationship impact on human species? Moreover, will subpar romantic relationship affect human population health or even longevity?

Although not receiving much attention in previous researchers, the influence of romantic relationship on aging is an important consideration (Sailer et al., 2024). Despite the widely acclaimed benefits of being single, a significant body of research has supported the link between satisfactory romantic relationship and successful aging. In 1858, the famous epidemiologist William Farr suggested the longevity advantage of marriage in French men (Gellatly and Störmer, 2017). A recent longitudinal study (N = 7,641) indicates men who were continuously married aged more successfully (physical wellness, mental wellness, social wellness, and self-rated wellness) than their never-married counterparts (Ho et al., 2024). Furthermore, another longitudinal study (N = 974) with participants reported their romantic status at four phases (age 26, 32, 38 and 45) points to the association between slower biological aging (19 biomarkers and facial aging) and high-quality romantic relationship in both men and women (Bourassa et al., 2020). Marriage was also found to be associated with a slower epigenetic aging (Rentscher et al., 2023).

Nevertheless, the relationship between romantic relationship status and aging is complex. Singlehood has not been consistently associated with accelerated aging. Using data from the 2016 US Health and Retirement Study (aged 50–100, N = 3,765), Yu et al. failed to find prominent epigenetic aging difference between single and married people after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, economic resources, depressive symptoms, and health behaviors (Yu, 2023). Furthermore, if marriage does indeed slower aging process, what is the underlying mechanism? A secure romantic relationship, rooted in attachment theory, may foster a sense of security, elevate Oxytocin levels, thereby mitigating the stress response and bolstering immune function (Maunder and Hunter, 2008). However, recent study failed to identify significant difference in mental and physical health between single and married population (Apostolou et al., 2024). Another study found that the odds ratio of meeting the WHO physical activity recommendations was 40% higher in single than in married participants (Puciato and Rozpara, 2021). Presumably, potential moderators or confounders in the relationship between marriage and aging should be considered.

Overall mental wellbeing has been shown to have a more prominent impact (1.65 years) on biological aging than the marital status (0.59 years) alone (Galkin et al., 2022). Indeed, researchers have found that with increasing age, having a partner is less predictive of psychological health and the satisfaction with being single increased (Böger and Huxhold, 2020). Among all psychological factors, subjective quality of sleep (0.44 years) has the largest impact on aging (Galkin et al., 2022). Moreover, a recent large cohort study (N = 589) suggests an association between poor sleep quality and accelerated brain aging, even in midlife (Cavaillès et al., 2024). In a sample of 154 middle-aged to older adults, it has been found that decelerated cellular aging (represented by telomere length) is associated with better sleep quality (assessed via Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) (Cribbet et al., 2014). Irrespective of marital status, sharing a bed with a partner has been linked with better sleep quality (Drews et al., 2020). Indeed, being married alone does not guarantee a good sleep quality since sleep quality was found to be correlated with couple relationship quality in a meta-analysis (Wang et al., 2025). No significant difference in sleep quality was found between married and single U.S. (Chen et al., 2015) and Japanese people (Matsumoto et al., 2022). Consequently, based on the scientific evidence, sleep quality may act as an unaddressed mediator in the intricate relationship between marriage status and aging.

As global trends indicate a staggering increase in both singlehood and the aging population, further comprehensive research is imperative and warranted to thoroughly investigate the complex interplay between aging and the dynamics of romantic relationships. Mental wellbeing, especially subjective sleep quality, was found to be significantly associated with aging. Based on current evidence, subjective sleep quality can be assumed to moderate the relationship between marital status and aging. Future research should explore the interplay between subjective and objective sleep quality, biological aging, and marital status, alongside other mental and physical health indicators, potentially through a prospective cohort study. If, as predicted, sleep quality is the most pivotal factor mediating the relationship between marital status and aging, individuals without partners can still decelerate aging process through improvement of sleep quality. In addition to general strategies to improve sleep hygiene (i.e., keep a consistent sleep schedule), specific interventions tailored to this singlehood-sleep quality-aging pathway could be explored and investigated to optimize sleep quality and mitigate aging in single individuals. Examples may include: sleeping with a soothing stuffed toy or sleeping with an artificial intelligence (A.I.) voice companion. Future studies are warranted to find the most effective strategy.

Oscar Wilde, the world-renowned Irish poet once said “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” Indeed, even amidst the trend of singlehood and population aging, we can still embrace the journey of self-love and find romance in the pursuit of health and youth. Furthermore, the secret to the fountain of youth might be sleep.

Author contributions

J-YC: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal Analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing.

Funding

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article.

Conflict of interest

The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Generative AI statement

The author(s) declare that no Generative AI was used in the creation of this manuscript.

Any alternative text (alt text) provided alongside figures in this article has been generated by Frontiers with the support of artificial intelligence and reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, including review by the authors wherever possible. If you identify any issues, please contact us.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

References

Apostolou, M., Tekeş, B., Kagialis, A., and Lajunen, T. J. (2024). Aspects of quality of life: single vs. Mated people. Behav. Sci. 14, 954. doi:10.3390/bs14100954PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Böger, A., and Huxhold, O. (2020). The changing relationship between partnership status and loneliness: effects related to aging and historical time. Journals Gerontology - Ser. B Psychol. Sci. Soc. Sci. 75, 1423–1432. doi:10.1093/geronb/gby153PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Bourassa, K. J., Caspi, A., Harrington, H. L., Houts, R., Poulton, R., Ramrakha, S., et al. (2020). Intimate partner violence and lower relationship quality are associated with faster biological aging. Psychol. Aging 35, 1127–1139. doi:10.1037/PAG0000581PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Cavaillès, C., Dintica, C., Habes, M., Leng, Y., Carnethon, M. R., and Yaffe, K. (2024). Association of self-reported sleep characteristics with neuroimaging markers of brain aging years later in middle-aged adults. Neurology 103, e209988. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000209988PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Chen, J.-H., Waite, L. J., and Lauderdale, D. S. (2015). Marriage, relationship quality, and sleep among U.S. Older adults. J. Health Soc. Behav. 56, 356–377. doi:10.1177/0022146515594631PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Cribbet, M. R., Carlisle, M., Cawthon, R. M., Uchino, B. N., Williams, P. G., Smith, T. W., et al. (2014). Cellular aging and restorative processes: subjective sleep quality and duration moderate the association between age and telomere length in a sample of middle-aged and older adults. Sleep 37, 65–70. doi:10.5665/sleep.3308PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Drews, H. J., Wallot, S., Brysch, P., Berger-Johannsen, H., Weinhold, S. L., Mitkidis, P., et al. (2020). Bed-sharing in couples is associated with increased and stabilized REM sleep and sleep-stage synchronization. Front. Psychiatry 11, 583. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00583PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Galkin, F., Kochetov, K., Koldasbayeva, D., Faria, M., Fung, H. H., Chen, A. X., et al. (2022). Psychological factors substantially contribute to biological aging: evidence from the aging rate in Chinese older adults. Aging 14, 7206–7222. doi:10.18632/AGING.204264PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Gellatly, C., and Störmer, C. (2017). How does marriage affect length of life? Analysis of a French historical dataset from an evolutionary perspective. Evol. Hum. Behav. 38, 536–545. doi:10.1016/J.EVOLHUMBEHAV.2017.02.002CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Ho, M., Pullenayegum, E., Burnes, D., and Fuller-Thomson, E. (2024). The association between trajectories of marital status and successful aging varies by sex: findings from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). Int. Soc. Work 68, 88–111. doi:10.1177/00208728241267791CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Luo, W., and Yu, J. (2022). Sexual infidelity among the married in China. Chin. J. Sociol. 8, 374–397. doi:10.1177/2057150X221108574CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Matsumoto, Y., Uchimura, N., and Ishitake, T. (2022). The relationship between marital status and multifactorial sleep in Japanese day workers. Sleep. Biol. Rhythms 20, 211–217. doi:10.1007/s41105-021-00357-2PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Maunder, R. G., and Hunter, J. J. (2008). Attachment relationships as determinants of physical health. J. Am. Acad. Psychoanal Dyn. Psychiatry 36, 11–32. doi:10.1521/jaap.2008.36.1.11PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Puciato, D., and Rozpara, M. (2021). Physical activity and socio-economic status of single and married urban adults: a cross-sectional study. PeerJ 9, e12466. doi:10.7717/peerj.12466PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Rentscher, K. E., Klopack, E. T., Crimmins, E. M., Seeman, T. E., Cole, S. W., and Carroll, J. E. (2023). Social relationships and epigenetic aging in older adulthood: results from the Health and Retirement Study. Brain Behav. Immun. 114, 349–359. doi:10.1016/J.BBI.2023.09.001PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Sailer, L. L., Haghani, A., Zoller, J. A., Li, C. Z., Ophir, A. G., and Horvath, S. (2024). Epigenetic aging studies of pair bonding in prairie voles. Sci. Rep. 14 (1), 17439–13. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-67641-2PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Wang, X. X., Lin, Q., Liu, X., Dong, P., Bao, Y., Que, J.-Y., et al. (2025). The association between couple relationships and sleep: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep. Med. Rev. 79, 102018. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2024.102018PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Yu, Y. L. (2023). Current marital status and epigenetic clocks among older adults in the United States: evidence from the health and retirement study. J. Aging Health 35, 71–82. doi:10.1177/08982643221104928PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar