In Sickness and In Health

Behind every unhealthy man there may be an overworked woman, suggests Ross Stolzenberg, who examined interviews with nearly 3,000 married couples.

The University of Chicago sociology professor showed that when a wife worked more than 40 hours a week, her husband's chances of staying healthy declined by 25 percent.

Conversely, when a husband worked more than 40 hours a week, his wife's health was not affected. In fact, it was only when a man worked less than 16 hours a week that the health of both husband and wife deteriorated.

"Wives arrange more social contact for their husbands than husbands arrange for themselves," Stolzenberg explains. But working women have less time to arrange social outings, and social contact reduces stress—which is crucial to good health.

So how can husbands stay healthy when their wives work? "They can just spend more time with their friends," Stolzenberg says.