SanoMD

Everyone feels sad or low sometimes. These feelings usually pass with a little time. Depression—also called “clinical depression” or “depressive disorder”—is a mood disorder that causes distressing symptoms that last for at least two weeks. These affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working.

Results from a recent study suggest that one reason married couples may be healthier than their single counterparts (be they divorced, widowed, or never-married) is that married people have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The study, funded in part by NCCIH and conducted by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, was published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.