Social Connections for Good Health

Doctors frequently tell patients to stop smoking, lose weight and get more exercise because such lifestyle changes are critical for good health. A new study suggests your doctor should also be advising you to hang out with your friends. In fact, social interaction may be even more important to extending life than exercise or weight loss. The investigators analyzed almost 150 long-term studies and discovered that social isolation was comparable to alcoholism and smoking in terms of shortening lifespan. Interacting with family, friends and colleagues seems to influence health over the whole lifespan perhaps by making people feel that their interaction with the group gives their lives meaning.

[PLoS Medicine, July, 2010]