Long live friends

We all know the value of friends. How else would you know if you had made an appalling choice of boyfriend/girlfriend without friends to tell you? Without friends, who would invite the incredibly inappropriate stripper to your otherwise tasteful birthday event? It is friends who remind you of all those embarrassing moments you might otherwise forget. Yes, friends serve many purposes, not the least of which, according to a new study, is that they make you live longer.

These findings come from a study done on 6500 men and women aged 52 and over, who were followed for seven to eight years. Analysis of the data gathered showed that the more isolated and lonely a person was, the more likely they were to die during the study.

The link between social isolation and death remained even after the researchers took health, income and education levels out of the equation. Any of these factors might, for instance, be causing the isolation but the study found this was not the case. Rather, it seems to be the lack of social contact itself that might kill you.

Digging even further into the data the researchers were able to establish that it is not loneliness that is the problem but the sheer isolation itself, meaning that even if you don’t feel lonely, lack of contact with people is likely to lead to premature death.

Exactly why this is so is not yet understood. Some research has shown that isolation has real physical effects, like damaging nerves by reducing myelin production. However it happens though, value your friends because they could be adding years to your life…or maybe they just make life seem longer.