Study on social relationships and health
Well, the papers have been buzzing with news that relationships are good for your health, and that isolation is a risk factor equivalent to smoking.
I have to admit that I’m a bit mystified about all the fuss. The link between isolation and longevity has been understood since at least the late 1970s. Similarly, the risk factors attaching to loneliness (as well as the increased risk of mortality for the lonely) have been known for over a decade.
So why is this story getting blogged and buzzed and Twittered about? The risk factors haven’t changed. I think what has changed is our vulnerability to isolation. When the first studies of isolation and mortality came out in the late 70s, we weren’t so alone. It’s only today, with isolation on the rise, that a study such as this one is able to create such a bang.
If someone sees something I’m missing, please feel free to write and inform me. But there are whole textbooks written on this subject that’s being presented as “news.” Again, I think it’s our increased isolation that’s driving interest in this story, not the findings themselves.
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on Friday, July 30th, 2010 at 12:04 pm and is filed under the category Effects of Loneliness, Social Isolation.
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The very same technologies that are supposed to be bringing us closer together are pushing us further apart.
Strange, ain’t it?
I know, I know. Those studies of how isolated seniors die earlier than connected ones scare the daylights out of me. The defensive part of me wants to ask, “But what about people who are NOT isolatd and who are connected, but their relationships are stressful ones, full of strife or that are strained?” It’s the age-old question, for me: Is it better to be isolated and alone and at least without rancor or is it better to be connected with someone, anyone, even if it’s someone who argues all the time, criticizes, etc., or who is stone cold and unsupportive? Why aren’t there any studies about the effects of contentious relationships on people??
As a side note: I’ve known of two old married couples who fought each other and were miserable their whole lives. But when one spouse died of illness, the other one died not long after. Despite the contempt the surviving spouse had shown toward the spouse who died, he (it was a male in both cases) died of what seemed like a lonely heart not long after.
Despite what we read about how disconnected people are these days, I still see lots and lots of people together when I am out and about (I live in a large city). I see friends in groups of two or more; and I see huge groups of friends, of all ages, together.
I am one of those isolated seniors that you mention Laura. I am fortunate to be quasi-literate on the computer, which means I have connections of some sort-but certainly not what I need. I have actually started looking for job, in the hopes of having some people interaction for the year or so I will still be here in BC.
Emily-I received the book from the library a week or so ago-and despite the fact that I am giving the great majority of my books away before I go, when I got to ‘Heart and Soul’ I thought “I want this book to go with me.” So I hied off to my local shop in the mall, and cleaned them out. One for me that I can write in the margins, and really use-and one for my GP, who sent me to the Shrink, who called me depressed and prescribed a pile of pills, which I stopped taking after a very short while. So much of what you have written strikes a hugely responsive chord-both about your experiences and your research. Thank you so much for opening my eyes to a new take on my personal unhappiness.