Friendship and Living LongerDo you want to be healthier and live longer？ Spend time with y

Friendship and Living Longer

Do you want to be healthier and live longer？ Spend time with your friends. That is the prescription given by several medical studies. These surveys show that people with strong social ties--to friends, family and loved ones, even pets live longer and enjoy better health than lonely people.

One study in California, for example, followed 7,000 people over a period Of nine years. The subjects were asked to describe their social ties. Some said that they were isolated from others. These subjects had death rates two or three times higher than people with families and friends.

The stronger the social ties to others, the study found, the lower the death rate. The pattern held true for men and women, young and old, rich and poor. The race of the subject did not change the result. It also applied to people with different life styles. Cigarette smokers who had friends lived longer than friendless smokers. Joggers involved with other people lived longer than joggers who lived isolated lives.

Another study confirms this result. The University of Michigan looked at 2,754 adults in Tecumseh, Michigan. The researchers carefully measured their subjects' health at the beginning of the study. The lonely, isolated people started out as healthy as the others. But over ten years, they were two to four times as likely to die.

Other findings also show the health value of personal ties. Married men and women tend to live longer than single, divorced or widowed people of the same age. In nursing homes, patients became more aware and responsive when they played with cats and dogs. Pet owners are more likely to survive heart attacks than people without pets.

Another kind of proof that social ties support good health comes from Japan. Most Japanese people live hectic lives in cities as crowded, noisy, and polluted as ours. Such a way of life seems unhealthy. Yet the Japanese are among the healthiest and longest-lived people in the world. One reason may be their diet. Another reason, though, is the way of life. The Japanese have strong ties to family and co-workers. These ties are rarely broken. For example, companies tend to move co-workers as a group, rather than one at a time. Thus the work groups remain the same.

Studies of Japanese-Americans support the importance of the role of Japanese social life in preserving their health. Japanese-Americans who live in strongly Japanese neighborhoods and have mainly Japanese friends tend to live longer than those who do not. Both groups eat mostly American-style. food and many in both groups smoke and drink. Thus it appears to be the strong social ties of Japanese communities that keep their members healthy.

Why is it more healthy to have friends and loved ones？ We don't know exactly. But it is probably a combination of several explanations. In part, people with strong social ties may simply have more to live for. They have loved ones or family who share their lives. They have friends who call them and ask them how they are doing. They have get-togethers to look forward to.

Social contacts also provide us with a buffer against the shocks of life. At some point, each of us moves, changes a job, or loses a loved one. Such abrupt changes tend to cause increase in the rates of many diseases. These include heart disease, cancer, strokes, and mental illnesses. Accidents are also more likely to happen to people whose lives have suddenly changed. Friends, loved ones, even a loyal dog can help us to get through the otherwise very rough changes that we must deal with in life.

Finally, friends and loved ones can affect our health in still another way. If we are smokers, they may help us to quit. If we overeat, they may urge us to cut back. They can remind us to go for medical checkups. And if we have fears or sadness bottled up inside us, friends

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C．NG