What could be worse for your health than smoking fifteen cigarettes a day or scrapping your exercise program? A study by Juliana Holt of Brigham Young University of 300,000 people over 7.5 years found that it is feeling lonely and isolated. Loneliness is twice as bad for your health as being obese.
From grade school to retirement home, we seek friendships not so we can live longer but because we crave someone to talk to, depend on and enjoy. "Friendships are so valuable," Dr. Kelli Harding of Columbia says, "as a medical doctor, I wish I could prescribe them for everyone." Having good friends and keeping them must be a priority in addition to healthy eating, exercise and stress reduction.
An 80-year study from Harvard University revealed those having the most satisfaction in their friendships at age 50 were the healthiest at age 80. In keeping with this trend, the famous Framingham Heart Study reported that participants who had a good listener in their lives protected them against dementia.
- Phil Brewer