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Surprising Risk Factor For Death
August 24, 2010: 1 comment(s)
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According to research published in the journal, PLOS Medicine this year, friendships have a great impact on how long you live. In fact, personal relationships and social networks may actually be a more important risk factor for good health and long life than smoking, obesity, alcoholism and exercise habits.
Timothy Smith, co-author, stated, "We take relationships for granted as humans -- we're like fish that don't notice the water. That constant interaction is not only beneficial psychologically but directly to our physical health."
Along with Julianne Holt-Lunstad and Brad Layton of Brigham Young University, Smith analyzed 148 published studies and found a connection between death rates and time spent with other people. On average, volunteers had been studied 7.5 years. They found that relationships increased the odds of survival by 50%.
Since they could not determine if the time spent was with friend or foe, the benefits are probably greater. "The data simply show whether they were integrated in a social network," Holt-Lunstad said. "That means the effects of negative relationships are lumped in there with the positive ones.”
Surprisingly, the researchers found that low social activity had the same risk for death as smoking 15 cigarettes daily, being addicted to alcohol, not exercising or being obese.
Smith pointed out, “This effect is not isolated to older adults. Relationships provide a level of protection across all ages."
The authors suggest that possible explanations for the protection provided by relationships with other people include the benefits of physical touch, and the meaning and purpose added to a life filled with friends and loved ones. When someone is relying on us we probably take better care of ourselves and take less risks.
Human life today is far less communal than in the past and the need to have other people in our life in order to survive is less important. With modern conveniences and non-contact communications via hand held devices and computers, we aren’t interacting the same today as we used to and this change in the quality and amount of human contact appears to have an impact on longevity.
Editors of PLOS Medicine magazine said, "The idea that a lack of social relationships is a risk factor for death is still not widely recognized by health organizations and the public."
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Comments (Scroll to the end to leave a comment)
Al Wenzel
08/25/10 06:41
Having friends is good
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