The secret to a long, healthy life may be having a strong social network, according to a new study.
People
with normal social relationships - friends, family and community
involvement - were 50 per cent less likely to die during the research
period than those with little social support.Scientists found that a good social network was the equivalent to giving up smoking in terms of mortality.
But people with little support had a mortality risk equal to being an alcoholic.
Researchers at Brigham Young University and the University of North Carolina compiled data from 300,000 people over eight years.
The study found that socially connected people would live an average of 3.7 years longer than less-connected people, according to co-author Timothy B. Smith.
Dr Antonio Gomez, assistant clinical professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said doctors should take note of the study, but that it has its limitations.
He told the LA Times: 'We can't make the broad, sweeping claim that social relationships cause increased survivability - at least, not yet.'
He added that the study did not explain how social contact could cause good health, or the possibility that unknown differences between people could be influencing health.
Teresa Ellen Seeman, professor of medicine at the UCLA School of Public Health, said: 'As humans, we have many different regulatory systems - blood pressure, metabolism, stress hormones.
'There is data that suggests all these systems are affected by social relationships.
'People who report more supportive and positive social relationships have... lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels, better glucose metabolism and lower levels of various stress hormones.'
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