Have somestrong interpersonal relationshipsit is so important to wear ahealthy lifestylehow to quit smoking, lose weight or exercise, according to a study published in the journalPLoS Medicine.
“Lack of social relationships is equivalent to smoking more than 15 cigarettes a day“said Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a co-author of the research, based on data from 150 studies on mortality risk and social media, which included monitoring about 300,000 people for 7 years. As Holt-Lunstad and her colleagues have found colleagues at Brigham Young University in Utah, having low levels of social interaction is more harmful than not exercising or being an alcoholic, and twice as dangerous as obesity. And what is more serious,social relationships have a greater impact on premature mortality than exposure to environmental pollution. “I don’t want to minimize other risk factors because they are also very important,” Holt-Lunstad said. “But we need to start taking personal relationships just as seriously.”
Not in vain, according to the studyindividuals with the broadest social networksshow the best levels ofLife expectancy. The chances of being alive at a certain age rose to 1.5 compared to lonely people. One possible hypothesis is that when someone is connected to a group they feel responsibility for others, and this translates into taking better care of themselves.
“A constant interaction is beneficial for psychological and physical health,” stresses Timothy Smith, co-author of the study. “We are designed to live and work in groups.” This begins in childhood with our family, and after school expands our social circle. Isolation, by contrast, is linked to mental illness, anxiety and poor health, the Utah academic pointed out.
