Any fan of the British science fiction drama Doctor Who knows that the good doctor usually travels with a female companion. While his companions tend to straddle that friend/more than friend line, the Doctor never travels with the same companion for too long. He is, in effect, a serial monogamist.

Just what the heck is a serial monogamist, you might be wondering? Well, a serial monogamist is a man (or women) who his faithful to the partner he or she is with, but that partner is NOT for life. Once the relationship has run its course, the serial monogamist moves on to another committed relationship, ad infinitum, more or less.

Now all of the Casanovas out there are probably saying, “Hey, I don’t even want to be stuck in any kind of relationship. I need a different girl for every night of the week. That’s the good life.” Well, you might think that will make you happy, but the research says otherwise.

According to a report published by researchers at the University of London, men are the happiest when they practice serial monogamy. Women, on the other hand, have the best chance at good state of mental health if they marry the first man they’ve ever had a serious relationship with, assuming that relationship wasn’t abusive. If you stop and think about that, you can see how the needs of the two sexes don’t really match up at all. That might explain a lot about the battles that are going on out there between men and women concerning lasting commitment.

For a man to reach his peak state of mental health, he should be in a prosperous and monogamist relationship, but stop just short of actually tying the knot. Men who are at the bars every night picking up a different babe might be satisfying their sexual desires, but that’s not the best thing for their emotional well being, according to the study. It seems a man can and should have multiple partners throughout his life in order to stay healthy and happy, but just not all at the same time.

So, it appears that Doctor Who really is as smart as he always says he is. He travels through time with a woman for a while, has some fine adventures with her, gets rid of her somehow, and then finds a new girl. The lesson here is fairly simply: Be faithful to the girl you’re with, but just not through all of eternity.

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