Being lonely equivalent to smoking
Having a good group of friends, neighbours and a social network are just as important as other health factors when determining one’s lifespan. American researchers have found this boosts our survival chances by up to 50%.
The Brigham Young University team calculated this from looking into other studies that covered 300,000 people from four continents over seven years.
They also found that being lonely equates to smoking 15 cigarettes a day or being an alcoholic. Being obese or a lack of exercise do not even compare to the effects of loneliness.
“When someone is connected to a group and feels responsibility for other people, that sense of purpose and meaning translates to taking better care of themselves and taking fewer risks,” said lead researcher, Julianne Holt-Lundstad.
Co-researcher, Timothy Smith, added that the effect is not isolated to just the elderly, social relationships are important across all ages.
The research was published in PLoS Medicine.
