Discussing what to expect once you decided to spend the rest of your life with the one you love.
Marriage is not a walk in the park; married couples know this truth. Once the party’s over, your mindset becomes occupied on how to foster your relationship and build a life together with your partner – a life that requires a lot more than when you were still dating.
“Couples’ expectations about what marriage should be like are completely off from the reality of what marriage is actually like” –Dr. Chantal Gagnon PhD LMHC
Expectation Matters
What is commonly overlooked by people who get married is how things will significantly change regarding their mental and physical characteristics. Marriage drastically changes people in more ways than one, usually in specific areas they didn’t expect.
Not too many couples ponder on the fact that once you get married, the body and the mind will change drastically. Since couples are no longer concerned with finding the right person to settle down with, priorities change as well as the approach to daily routines. Usually, the changes are mainly concentrated in thought processes, attitudes and behaviors, eating habits, and mindset.
Common Changes
For those who are quite curious about the changes that happen with the body and the mind once people get married, here are the usual answers from medical professionals.
- Stress Is Reduced
Believe it or not, one of the promising aspects of tying the knot is that it can significantly reduce the couple’s stress levels. Though it may be too good to be true, there are studies to prove this claim.
Couples who are engaged in healthy marriages find their love-struck selves in the transition from passionate, intense love to a more compassionate, profound relationship after a few years of being together. Love built on intensity is often stressful on the body and the mind since it has this heart-racing, mind-bugging effects. However, as years go by, happy couples who have managed to pull through despite difficulties feel protected from stress due to their more profound and more meaningful love and affection towards each other.
The brain reacts by releasing vasopressin and oxytocin, the love hormones that enable partners to form a more profound bond with each other as the years pass by. This can also be the reason why people are continually seeking for someone to love – so they can nestle with someone who can keep their minds in check while getting those hormones that relax and soothe their stress and anxiety.
- Dad Bods Are Inevitable
That softly-round built that married men are most likely to get is what current society refers to as “dad bods.” Based on scientists and doctors, though dad bods are usually laughed at, it is a reality that most men experience and must face.
Dad bods start the moment men commit to women due to a drop in their testosterone levels. Testosterone is responsible for male bodily changes, specifically with fat and muscle mass. Low testosterone levels can cause decreased calorie burning and less muscle which leads to increased fat storage inside the body, usually situated around the abdomen.
For women, this change that might happen in the future means that if you’re tying the knot mainly because your man is ripped, you might want to find other different reasons to settle down. On the other hand, some women are attracted to dad bods; it depends on the reason why you love your husbands in the first place.
- Anxiety Is Lessened
According to clinical psychologist Danielle Forshee, Psy.D, “those who worry — meaning everybody — can control the intensity and duration of their worry thoughts.” It is an undeniable reality that marriage can be terrifying for some people due to horror stories about divorces and failed marriages. However, those who conquered the expected ups and downs successfully create a stronger, more comfortable bond between each other whether inside or outside their relationship causing anxiety to lessen over time.
According to relationship therapists, marriage transcends a person’s mindset to benefit the relationship. A person’s positive mindset is essential in marriages because how a person thinks about his or her partner can either be beneficial or detrimental not only to each other but their kids as well. Couples who become physically, emotionally, and psychologically comfortable with each other are said to have decreased anxiety with regards to the stability of their relationships.
The Conclusion
Healthy relationships beget healthy partners. “Participating together as a couple gives the partners the opportunity to pay closer attention to one another and listen more intimately to their needs, wants, and dissatisfactions, thus establishing a closer bond and a more intimate connection.” Dana Baduna, PhD, LMFT said. Couples who are concerned with one another encourage a healthy lifestyle by involving themselves in daily exercise, proper nutrition, and consistency in doctor appointments. A marriage that ages well is due to both parties allowing themselves to thrive and withstand difficulties that they might encounter which includes physical and mental changes.