Love and Health

Can love really keep you healthy?

Social relationships were studied in research by Dr. Lisa Berkman. In this study, Dr. Berkman found that people lacking in social and community support were more than three times more likely to die compared to others which strong social connections.

The relationship between social and community ties and mortality was assessed using a survey of 6928 adults in Alameda County, California and a subsequent nine-year mortality follow-up. The findings showed that people who lacked social and community ties were more likely to die in the follow-up period than those with more extensive contacts. She found this to be true even for subjects with unhealthy lifestyles. Those who lived the longest had both a healthy lifestyle and social connections.