Married women live as much as two-and-a-half years longer than their single counterparts,” claims a psychosomatic journal. “Being married is indicative of a longer life expectancy than being single,” ventures Dr John Austine in his book Perfect Health.

Whoa, girls! Let’s not get carried away by such blanket statements. Marriage per se does not extend our life unless our relationship is blissfully free of conflicts. Studies of relationship on the immune system show that couples married for 40 years were as likely as the newly weds to show hostility, which, in turn, weakened their immune system. And women showed more distressing immunological changes than men.

Every woman whether single or married has her own set of stories of strength, love and pride to tell as she grows up. These stories get as dusty as Enid Blyton’s books and we lose that link with ourselves in complex preoccupations. Well, it’s important we constantly live these tales of tomboyish mischief, mid-adolescence madness, creative-genius-at-work to resurrect our sense of pride. It’s that pride that drives us to give our all to our work. For instance, when you are engaged on a project, your mind may swing to your morning argument with your hubby. While ‘reading’ the research material, you are reliving what you said, what he said, and suddenly, you come to the end of the page and realise you’ve absorbed nothing. You’ve been virtually sleeping.

Suppose, when a child your mother told you angrily to make your bed while you were deep in some adventure book. Your attention was still fixed on the story while you heard her voice. Why can’t you give your full attention to your project too just because you had a minor quarrel with your wife two hours ago? That single woman within the wife has her life to live. Live it with pride.

That same pride drives us to transform our appearance, change our food habits and do exercises. Here, we strengthen our bodies as well as lift our spirits. The effect will be so great that you will also begin to look with a more positive outlook on even those colleagues you consider distant and uncooperative. What is important is not how long you live but how you live your life.