Close Ties With Others Might Lengthen Life

Family and friends may do more than provide companionship: They also may boost your longevity, making as much of a difference as not smoking, a new analysis of studies suggests. The study is published in PLoS Medicine.

Researchers combined the results of 148 studies and estimated that adults with strong personal relationships may live an average of almost 4 years longer than those with weaker social ties.

The analysis doesn't prove that relationships directly help people live longer, but it seems clear that "our relationships come with more than just emotional benefits," says study author Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at Brigham Young University. "They can influence our longevity and our health."

Holt-Lunstad and colleagues examined studies involving almost 309,000 people on the effects of relationships, such as those with friends, family, roommates, and spouses, on life span. The studies, conducted in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, followed people for an average of 7.5 years.

The effect held up even when researchers adjusted their figures for factors such as age and health status. It appears that strong relationships had an effect comparable to that of quitting smoking and a greater effect than known risk factors such as obesity and alcohol abuse, Holt-Lunstad says.

The challenge now is to put this information to good use, say the authors, who noted that in this era of technology, the quantity and quality of relationships seems to be decreasing.

Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, a psychology professor who studies happiness at the University of California at Riverside, says friends and family can affect your health in various ways. "They help support good health habits: They remind us to put that seat belt on and ask us about that pain we've had, have we had that checked out? That may be the biggest factor."

Relationships may also reduce stress and boost the immune system, she says.

Or, it could be that people with more relationships live longer because "they're healthier to begin with: They could be more active and have more energy to engage in social activities," she says.

But other factors may also play a role, and it may be impossible to ever definitively say that more social relationships translate to longer lifespans, she says.

Source: Brigham and Women's Hospital