It’s clear that eating well, staying active and having a good sleep cycle are key features of optimal health and longevity, and genes play a significant role, but did you know that in those Blue Zones where the inhabitants are known to live the longest in the world, maintaining strong relationships is a priority?
It seems that those who report strong social ties experience improved health outcomes.
Let’s explore the impact relationships have on health and longevity in a little more detail.
A Lack of Social Ties
One study, which examined data from more than 309,000 people found that lack of strong relationships increased the risk of premature death from all causes by 50%.
In addition, a lack of social ties is associated with depression and later-life cognitive decline.
Weaker social relationships also appear to increase the risk of developing heart failure in older individuals.
Finally, poor quality social ties have been associated with increased inflammation in the body and impaired immune function.
Why Are Relationships So Important?
It is thought that having strong social relationships helps relieve harmful levels of stress which can negatively affect all aspects of health. In addition, you may be spending time with others who also value their health and so they too engage in health promoting behaviours.
The Dark Side of Relationships
But we generally see the benefits from relationships when they are enjoyable and not a source of stress.
Research shows that marital strain can actually erode physical health, and that the negative effect of marital strain on health becomes greater with advancing age.
Challenging relationships are incredibly stressful and stress contributes to psychological distress and physiological changes like increased heart rate and blood pressure that can damage health. Many of us will engage in less than optimal behaviours to manage stress like eating unhealthy foods or engaging in unhealthy behaviours like heavy drinking and/or smoking.
It may seem obvious that strained and conflicted relationships undermine health, but social ties may have other types of unintended negative effects on health too. For example, caring for a sick family member is associated with poorer health behaviour too. This isn’t to say that we should stop caring, but simply have an awareness of the impact and encourage us to prioritise our health even more than usual.
Finally, one particularly interesting line of research has found signs of reduced immunity in couples during especially hostile marital events. Again, many relationships will experience conflict at times, so this is more about having an awareness.
How To Have Healthful Relationships
It seems its quality that matters not quantity. So it doesn’t matter how many strong relationships we have, as long as we feel safe, secure, valued and respected in a select few. Just as we may plan our meals for the week, to improve our relationships we may need to plan the time we are going to spend with those closest to us. It’s so easy to blame work and life for not seeing our best friend in weeks, or that every other commitment comes before catching up properly with our spouse. Just as we would schedule a meeting for a work colleague, do we need to make time for those closest to us? Especially if our health depends on it?
