Marriage Improves Mental, Physical Health, Study Shows

New research has found additional health benefits to marriage aside from just increasing lifespan. A research team from Cardiff University in Wales, explained that marriage may also improve mental health of the wife and the physical health of the husband.

The research can be found in the British Medical Journal. While marriage has been shown to have several long-term health benefits, teenage relationships show increased risks of depression.

Also, romantic relationships tend to provide better mental health benefits than physical for people between the ages of 18 and 25 years old. However, ‘bad marriages’ are not as beneficial for health. Single people have better mental health when compared to people in a stressful relationship. Experts explain that break-ups almost always cause negative health effects as the action is usually distressing.

Another interesting finding researchers explain is that people with many different partners notice shorter lifetimes when compared to individuals in long-term relationships. Extensive studies have shown that death rates may be as much as 15 percent lower for individuals in healthy, long-term relationships.

Finding An Affordable Diamond Engagement Ring

Buying a loved one an engagement ring is for many people one of the first major expenses they incur during their life. Often this comes at a time when not much money is available, and as we all know jewelry is expensive especially if we want to impress. Luckily it is possible to find an affordable diamond engagement ring. The first step is to know exactly what you are buying, you should definitely arm yourself with some knowledge before you hit the jewelry stores.

Diamonds are graded according to what is known as the 4C'S. Namely color, cut, clarity and carat. These are not as simple as they initially appear, but to help here is a little more information on each. It's important you know before purchase what the C's are. That way you know exactly what you are buying and will be able to get the best value for your money.

1. Color -- Most diamonds are in a range of pale yellow or browns this is known as the "normal color range" diamonds that are of intense yellow or brown, or any other color are called fancy color diamonds and are very rare and expensive. Diamonds that are of the very highest purity are totally colorless, and appear bright white. The degree to which diamonds exhibit body color is what this particular "C" refers to and is written as a letter from D which is totally colorless to Z which is a pale yellow or brown color. Anything greater than Z is a fancy colored diamond with  F to I being the normal range that you will find from most high street jewelers.

2. Cut -- This is the most important of the four C's. In it's rough state, a diamond is fairly unremarkable in appearance usually dull and grey. It is the cut that uncovers its brilliance and beauty. Some of the more common you may encounter are round or brilliant cut, Princess cut, emerald cut, marquis cut and the less common asscher cut.

3. Clarity -- Diamonds are a natural item and therefor can suffer from natural inclusions or blemishes, surface scratches, marks or Pitts. Clarity grading of a diamond reflects the type and severity of these natural flaws and is graded on a scale ranging from FL or flawless to I3 which is severely included. Most mass market diamond jewelry has stones rated SI1 or SI2, which stands for slightly included with the number denoting the amount. Other grades you may encounter are VS or VVS  standing for very slightly or very very slightly included, or IF which is internally flawless, but the budget conscious diamond buyer is unlikely to find these within their price range.

4. Carat -- This refers to the weight of the diamond, a carat being an ancient measurement originally equal to the weight of a carob seed but today it is standardized at 200 milligrams.

Now you are familiar with the 4C's of diamonds it should be obvious that to buy an affordable diamond engagement ring you need to play around with the quality of the stone itself. Assuming you want to buy a stone between 0.33 to 0.75 carat settling for a stone of lesser clarity or color will bring the price down dramatically, and providing the cut has been done professionally there is no reason your loved one will ever notice or know how much it cost.

Tips on How to Find a Good Marriage Agency

In spite of the huge choice of marriage agencies that are available nowadays it is not easy to find a really good and dependable one. But still, if you know few simple tips, you will manage to find a marriage agency that meets your criteria.
It goes without saying that people look for and use marriage agencies in order to build strong relationships and get married. So, how to make your search really effective?
Of course, the first and the most important step for you to make is to choose several sites and scrutinize them. You may start with free sites but while doing this, don't forget that here the probability to meet scammers is the highest. Have you ever met them? If you haven't - you are really lucky. Be ready that if someone tells you an awful story about how he/ she lost all money, job, family etc... and needs your financial support - this person is definitely a scammer.
Fortunately, this is not the case with reputable marriage agencies because they check all their clients before putting their personal details into the database. It should be also pointed out that a good marriage agency provides detailed information about every client including his/ her photo (by the way, in dependable agencies all clients don't look like top models on the photos - they are real people, different people with different appearances). Also, the database is constantly updated and it is logical - some people quit, some get engaged.
While looking for a good marriage agency you should also pay attention to the prices - they should be easily found on the site.
After you find an agency you like you should start examining the profiles. While doing this, keep in mind that a serious person who really wants to build serious relationship provides enough and detailed information about himself/ herself. In such profile you will find not just those general things - such as I like music or something like that, you will also find there the kind of relationships and man/ woman that person is looking for.
So, just be careful, make your thorough research and you will be able to find a really good marriage agency.

Article Source : http://ezinearticles.com/