GO AHEAD, NAG HIM WIVES' PRODDING MAY BENEFIT HUSBANDS' HEALTH.

Byline: Dominic Berbeo Staff Writer

Wives, it's OK to nag. In fact, it may even be good for a man.

When a wife works too many hours to nag her husband about wearing sun block, eating right and other healthful practices, his health suffers, a new study released Tuesday says.

That's because wives are more likely than husbands to remind their spouses about keeping healthy habits and taking medications, the survey concluded.

Van Nuys resident Herb Wolfson couldn't agree more.

``She keeps me healthy,'' Wolfson said of Tobye, his wife of 55 years. ``Sometimes I feel nagged, but how else would I know she loves me?''

The retired grade-school teacher said his wife helps keep him away from greasy steaks, and they stay active together by dancing, walking and other exercise.

But when a wife works more than 40 hours per week, she tends to pay less attention to her husband, and his day-to-day health lags, said University of Chicago sociology professor Ross Stolzenberg, the study's lead researcher.

``What we saw in the study was a fully institutionalized set of gender attitudes and expectations that we learn from the time we're children,'' Stolzenberg said. ``Men are taught that it is not masculine to worry about health issues while women take on a nurturing role.''

The study was based on a three-year Americans Changing Lives survey of 2,867 husbands and wives by the University of Michigan and funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Stolzenberg said that in cases in which wives worked a 40-hour week, it did not have a negative impact on their spouses' health. But anything more than 40 hours tended to reduce the husbands' overall health by up to 25 percent over a three-year period.

He speculated that was because society has become accustomed to the 40-hour week and has developed a set of eating, sleeping and exercise customs to adapt in a healthy way.

But in the opposite situation, when the man works more than 40 hours per week, it generally had no negative effect on the wife.

``It might be true,'' said Karina Ortiz, a 35-year-old office worker from Canoga Park. ``But I think people are just getting more healthy overall, and it's more because just knowing someone cares about you that makes you feel better.''

Her husband, Jimmy, 38, said one example of how his wife keeps him healthy is by encouraging him to call in sick and see a doctor when he is sick, two things he would normally try to avoid if on his own.

``She urges me to do it,'' he said, ``otherwise I probably wouldn't.''

In contrast, Stolzenberg found in his study, husbands tend to be socialized to not perform health and social-emotional monitoring and management for anyone at all, not even themselves.

``Boys are taught to put themselves in harm's way by playing games like football,'' Stolzenberg said. ``The games girls play are often different and less violent.''

Warren Felt, who has been married to Dolly Arond for 21 years, said he would not be as active if he were on his own.

``We go out together instead of just staying at home,'' he said. ``I mowed the lawn this morning because she reminded me to, where if I were alone, I would probably just get a condo.''

Another way wives keep their husbands healthy is by keeping them out of bars and other single-life social activities, Arond said.

``If it weren't for me, he might go out drinking,'' she said.

Kevin White, a single 27-year-old contractor from Northridge, said he already takes good care of himself and doesn't believe getting married will improve his health.

``I don't think it would really make a difference,'' he said. ``I work out and eat pretty good now, like a lot more people are doing these days.''

But Sam Liberman of Reseda, a retired painter and bike shop owner who has been married for 47 years, had the perspective of experience from which to speak.

``The truth is, my wife has been nagging me since I met her,'' he said. ``But I know it's for my own good, and I'd probably miss it if she ever stopped.''

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Van Nuys resident Herb Wolfson says his wife of 55 years, Tobye, helps keep him healthy.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer