Husband and wife often get into each other's habits

Couples often tend to mimic each other's behavior - if a person quits or starts exercising - the other person will follow suit.

American researchers have learned how a person changes their health habits will affect their partners. They are based on data on 6,000 people aged over 50 in the US. Those who smoke are 5 times more likely to quit if their partner has quit smoking. These people also have a 5-fold increase in their ability to quit drinking if their partner doesn't drink.

"We found that if either of us improves our health behavior, the other person will do the same," said study author Jody Sindelar at the Yale School of Public Health in the US. "This is true for all types of behaviors and similar in both men and women."

Behaviors to prevent health, such as getting a flu shot, also affect your partner, if one of you did it first. The team identified results that could be useful for programs to improve people's behavioral health.

MT