Having a happy, healthy marriage is the goal of millions of couples who want to live long and prosper.

A new study has found that a 'less-than-perfect' marriage is just as good for your health, if not better.

Note that this study showed that this is only true for men though - it's like they need their wives to be nagging!

Controlling Wives Might Be a Good Thing

Michigan State University found that men who have controlling wives might live longer than those who don't.

Yup, that means a wife who is always checking up on her husband (in moderation!) could actually do him good.

A national study was done by the university's psychologists, who discovered that men with wives who are controlling experience health benefits.

They are less likely to develop diabetes.

These men who develop diabetes experience a slower onset and their symptoms are dealt with more effectively.

How did they come to this conclusion?

The team of researchers studied the survey results completed by 1228 married participants. The surveys were done over a period of five years.

Those who participated were between the ages of 57 and 85.

When the study ended, 389 of the participants had been diagnosed with diabetes.

The study found that these 'controlling wives' were better at nagging their husbands to be healthier and work on their damaging and bad behavior.

According to the study, this is especially true if the husband has already experienced health complications.

This study changes the classic opinion that a 'bad' marriage is bad for your health.

In fact, it is making researchers want to find other ways to look at what kind of relationship is best for people's health.

Apparently, nagging can be a sign of caring instead of simply being bossy.

In most cases, that truly is the case. A wife nagging her husband to do more exercise or eat healthier wants him to be healthier.

This kind of behavior may seem like oppression to the husband, but it might just end up saving his life.

Hui Liu, an associate professor of Sociology and lead researcher on this study, said:

"The study challenges the traditional assumption that negative marital quality is always detrimental to health."

"It also encourages family scholars to distinguish different sources and types of marital quality. Sometimes, nagging is caring."

The Same Isn't True For Women

Unfortunately for the ladies, the same cannot be said for women who are married to controlling or nagging men.

An unhappy marriage has the opposite effect on their health.

Women need to be in loving, supportive marriages for a strong and healthy marriage and a good state of health.

If a woman is in an unhappy marriage, her risk for diabetes actually increases.

Liu said:

"Diabetes requires frequent monitoring that the wives could be prodding the husband to do, boosting his health but also increasing marital strain over time."

According to research, women are more sensitive to men when it comes to the quality of the relationship.

If a marriage is strained, the wife will feel more stressed. As a result, women's physical health suffers more than that of men.

Too Controlling Is a Thing

Although it's good to have a nagging wife, there is such a thing as 'too much' for this kind of behavior.

A Danish study that was done over 11 years and followed 10000 people also focused on nagging partners and the effect it has on spouses.

Too much nagging (from partners and children) actually resulted in a 50% to 100% increase in mortality risk.

This is because of the stress that a lot of constant nagging can cause and its real effect on the body.

Men with 'controlling partners' should be both grateful and concerned. If they're being nagged to go for a walk with them or about taking their medicine, they need not stress. This is a sign that she cares.

If the missus is always nitpicking and nagging about even the smallest things, that is cause for concern.

This behavior does no one any good and should be stopped as soon as possible.