“Numerous studies have found that married people have better health than unmarried people,” added Dr George Ploubidis.

“However, our research shows that people who experience separation, divorce and remarriage, have very similar levels of health in middle age to those who are married.

“Previous research has also shown that men experience an initial decline after divorce, but we found that in the long term they tend to revert back to their pre-divorce health status.

“Surprisingly, those men who divorced in their late 30s and did not subsequently remarry, were less likely to suffer from conditions related to diabetes in early middle age compared to those who were married.”