One of the most under-rated factors affecting health, I think, is the use of social support systems or networks, that is, how well connected a person is to their family, friends, organizations and institutions in the community.
Study after study has shown that people with strong social supports systems do better – they live longer, they have fewer health complaints, they tend to suffer fewer chronic health conditions and the chronic health problems that they do get tend to come on later in life, and they live with more energy, more purpose, and more happiness.
So no surprise that a study published in the journal PLoS Medicine that looked at 148 previously-published studies on support systems (and that obviously included several hundred thousand subjects) concluded that in the 7 ½ years that these studies averaged, study subjects with strong social support systems had a 50 % lower risk of dying than did those with poor social support systems.
In other words, in terms of health risks, a poor social support network did about as much damage, say these researchers, as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and was a greater risk than being obese.
Now it may be, of course, that people who are healthier to begin with and who thus will live longer anyway are those who gravitate more to friends, family, and community organizations than do people who are sicker so it’s not so much that social support helps, it’s that social support is a strong marker for better health in the first place.
I tend to think, however, that common sense tells you that it’s bound to be the other way around, namely that having several or even more “someones” who care for you helps you live longer and better.
Not only can someone you’re in contact with and who cares for you regularly remind you (nag?) to do more of the things that are linked to better health – smoke less, do some exercise, etc – but there’s also the important factor of being needed, of having a purpose, which I think is very important for one’s well-being, especially perhaps, as we get older.
Study after study has shown that people with strong social supports systems do better – they live longer, they have fewer health complaints, they tend to suffer fewer chronic health conditions and the chronic health problems that they do get tend to come on later in life, and they live with more energy, more purpose, and more happiness.
So no surprise that a study published in the journal PLoS Medicine that looked at 148 previously-published studies on support systems (and that obviously included several hundred thousand subjects) concluded that in the 7 ½ years that these studies averaged, study subjects with strong social support systems had a 50 % lower risk of dying than did those with poor social support systems.
In other words, in terms of health risks, a poor social support network did about as much damage, say these researchers, as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and was a greater risk than being obese.
Now it may be, of course, that people who are healthier to begin with and who thus will live longer anyway are those who gravitate more to friends, family, and community organizations than do people who are sicker so it’s not so much that social support helps, it’s that social support is a strong marker for better health in the first place.
I tend to think, however, that common sense tells you that it’s bound to be the other way around, namely that having several or even more “someones” who care for you helps you live longer and better.
Not only can someone you’re in contact with and who cares for you regularly remind you (nag?) to do more of the things that are linked to better health – smoke less, do some exercise, etc – but there’s also the important factor of being needed, of having a purpose, which I think is very important for one’s well-being, especially perhaps, as we get older.
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