The stats are certainly newsworthy, but you have to read past the headlines. Study authors David Sbarra and Paul Nietert are careful to note that the associations between divorce and death “cannot be deemed causal.” It’s not as if you file your divorce papers and the Grim Reaper gets an email to move you up on his calendar. Rather, the research indicates that “there is something uniquely difficult about remaining separated or divorced that accelerates time of death.” 

Ex-husbands are at significantly higher risk of early death than their ex-wives. Why? Because wives help keep their husbands alive. Men generally die younger than women, but wives are de facto healthcare proxies. Relationship studies dating back to the 1970s have shown that without a woman around, a man’s health fails and he does little about it. Awareness campaigns and technology advances have improved the prognosis; men are more likely to attempt self-diagnosis on the web, and alert systems are available to single shut-ins who have fallen down and can’t get up. But these are afterthoughts, whereas companionship builds in prevention.