Scientists have discovered that meeting up with friends and family at least once a month can extend your life.
According to new research published in the journal BioMed Central Medicine from the University of Glasgow, researchers have found a link between how often a person visits family and friends and their life expectancy. goes
People who never meet their families reportedly have a higher risk of death. Earlier, during the ongoing epidemic of loneliness, researchers linked social isolation to reduced lifespan.
Latest studies An attempt has been made to understand how different types of social interactions affect our quality of life.
Having friends and family at home, taking part in a weekly group activity and not being alone reportedly made a big difference to the group of 458,146 participants in the UK.
The age of the participants selected for the study ranged from 37 to 73 years and the mean age was 56 years. The data was collected between 2006 and 2010.
The researchers asked participants questions about five different types of social interaction, that is, how often they had a heart-to-heart with someone close to them.
How often they felt lonely, how often they visited friends and family, how often they participated in a weekly group activity and whether or not they lived alone.
Dr Hamish Foster, a clinical research fellow at the University of Glasgow, told Insider magazine: ‘We also tried to take into account a number of other factors that could explain the results – such as how old people were, their Gender, their socio-economic status, did they smoke, etc.?’
‘And even after these factors were taken out, it appeared that these social connections were important for the risk of death.’
Depending on when the participants were recruited, the researchers re-examined the questions asked of the participants approximately 12 and a half years later.
They reportedly found that 33,135, or 7.2 percent, of the participants died in those years. Of these people, 5,112 or 1.1 percent died of heart disease.
The study also surprisingly revealed that regardless of weekly group activity or physical ability, individuals who lived alone and had no friends or family members visit them. They had a 77% higher risk of death.
However, Dr Foster cautions that the study fails to take into account both the complexity and quality of human social interactions.
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“Humans are really complex and so are our interactions, and our measures in this study are very crude compared to human capabilities, but this study is still very detailed and is starting to look at that,” Foster said. How important different types of communication are.’
He added that the study cannot prove that being less social causes death, but it does show that loneliness and isolation can lead to not only poor mental health but also poor physical health.
“We have to do more on a broader societal level to connect people together,” Foster added.
‘For example there could be community centres, parks and activities that allow people to easily connect with each other and build strong relationships.’
Dr. Foster and his team of researchers aren’t the first to connect the dots between longevity and an active social life.
Live-streaming service Netflix recently featured in its documentary series the famous Blue Zones—places with a particularly high population of centenarians.
The documentary series is titled ‘Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue’.
Blue zones such as the Greek island of Acaria, Greece, or Okinawa, Japan, prioritize social interaction at the community level rather than overriding it for economic or individual goals.
Social isolation has increased due to the digital age and the corona epidemic. Dr. Foster emphasizes that it is important for young people to develop their social lives and participate in community-level activities.
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2024-10-02 07:18:38
