While our parents and grandparents were saying “I do” well before they hit their 30s, our generation has been brought up to believe that your 20s are for experimenting, as opposed to settling down.

We’re meant to date different people, travel the world and leave all that grown up stuff like marriage and babies until we reach 30 –but if you’re with the person you want to be with forever already, is it such a disservice to yourself to walk down the aisle?

Here are five reasons why getting hitched in your 20s is not actually the end of the world, despite what your friends think!

Your sex life will be better
While people may laugh about how marriage can ruin your sex life, studies have shown that people who get married in their 20s have more frequent sex than couples who leave it until later. Dana Rotz of Harvard University said that “a four year increase in age at marriage is associated with a couple having sex about one time less per month”. This could be a big benefit, as a good sex life is important for a happy relationship – so what are you waiting for?!

It could make you healthier
The Journal of Health and Social Behaviour published a study in 2012 which found that people who are married or engaged drink less alcohol, as they have “a heightened sense of responsibility and obligation and a less active social calendar, which leads to less drunkenness”. And less drinking means better health. Not to mention weight-loss, better sleep and better skin. So the next time your single friends slag you for being boring when you want to stay in with your other half, you know who’s faring better in the long run!

There’s no advantage to waiting
We’re not saying you should run down the aisle the first chance you get, but if your 100%, there’s no advantage to waiting. Research conducted by sociologists Norval Glen and Jeremy Uecker says that “a 25-year-old person who meets an excellent marriage prospect would be ill-advised to pass up that opportunity only because he/she feels not yet at the ideal age for marriage. Furthermore, delaying marriage beyond the mid-twenties will lead to the loss, during a portion of young adulthood, of any emotional and health benefits that a good marriage would bring”.

Your hubby will make more money
While being married may not make a difference to your bank account (apart from tax breaks – yay!), one study found that men who got married in their 20s had the highest level of personal income. You can’t say anything bad about that!

It might make you a happier person
A national report has shown that the highest percentage of people aged between 20 and 28, who say they are ‘highly satisfied’ with life are those who are married. What’s more is that those who say they have a very happy marriage are the people who said ‘I do’ between the ages of 24 to 26. Sounds good to us!