Husbands More Influential Than Wives In Family Health

The secret to your health depends on your spouse, reaffirms a new study from John Hopkins University.

According to Yahoo News, researchers showed if one of the couple meets recommendations of American Heart Association for exercise, the other individual has higher chances of meeting them. The association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise and 75 minutes of intense exercise every week. The study was based on medical two medical visits six years, which began between 1987 and 1989, involving 3,261 couples.

Specifically, the study found that if a man met recommendations, his wife was 40 percent more likely to meet the recommendations at follow up visits, and a man was 70 percent more likely to meet the target if his wife meets the recommendations.

"When it comes to physical fitness, the best peer pressure to get moving could be coming from the person who sits across from you at the breakfast table. There's an epidemic of people in this country who don't get enough exercise and we should harness the power of the couple to ensure people are getting a healthy amount of physical activity," said Laura Cobb, the study's co-author, in a news release.

"We all know how important exercise is to staying healthy. This study tells us that one spouse could have a really positive impact on the other when it comes to staying fit and healthy for the long haul," adds Cobb.