Discover six surprising ways that family and friends can affect your health.
You exercise, you snack on colorful fruits and veggies, and you visit your doctor for regular check-ups. But are you spending quality time with people you love—and people who love you?
New research is showing that healthy relationships may be able to do everything from helping you make thoughtful health choices to reducing the risk of stroke. On the flip side, having few or unhealthy relationships can have a negative effect on your heart health, mental health, and more. We spoke with researchers to find out how your social networks impact your health.
1. The cons of conflict
If plentiful and positive relationships can have a positive impact on our hearts, it makes sense—sadly—that few and negative relationships can have (what else?) a negative impact.
In one study, Jim Coyne, Ph.D., a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, videotaped couples—one member of whom had congestive heart failure—as they discussed a problem. The researchers rated the tapes on a positive-negative scale, and contacted the patients for follow-up after four and eight years. "We found that we could predict the couples in which the patient was going to be deceased," says Dr. Coyne. The group with low marital quality and more serious heart problems fared the worst, but the group with low marital quality and less serious heart problems fared almost as badly. This was especially evident in women; of the eight women with the lowest marital quality scores, seven died within two years of the initial assessment.
2. Giving germs the boot
A review of research by Jolanda Jetten, Ph.D., at the University of Queensland in Australia, showed that belonging to social networks helped patients recover faster after a stroke, ward off dementia in old age, and even avoid the common cold. For example, Jetten cites a study by a Carnegie Mellon University psychologist that showed that the most sociable people were half as likely to get a cold as the least sociable, even though the more sociable subjects came into contact with many more people—and, presumably, many more germs. In the reviewed research, it didn't matter if the social network was a close-knit family or a knitting circle. "Any type of group can have positive health consequences as long as it is a meaningful group for people," explains Dr. Jetten. "So, for some, the family will be the most important group, but for others it will be their work group or even online groups."
3. Take heart
Being well-connected can boost your heart health. In a study of 3,267 men and women that was published in the American Journal of Cardiology, Brown University researcher Eric Loucks, Ph.D., found that men with more social connections had lower levels of markers for inflammation in their blood. These markers are associated with the development of atherosclerosis, otherwise known as hardening of the arteries. So if your social calendar is skimpy, beefing it up can provide benefits. "The evidence suggests that those who are more connected to others have lower rates of mortality—that's been shown over and over again," says Dr. Loucks. "If people feel comfortable with the number of relationships they have, that's great. But if they think they could use some more, there's certainly some potential health benefit to increasing them."
4. Helping hands
When you're sick, friends and family members do more than lend you a sympathetic ear—they can also help you serve as a second set of ears to listen to your doctor's explanations and instructions. In a study of 1,651 women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer, University of Michigan researcher Sarah Hawley, Ph.D., found that family and friends had an impact on the patient's decision about what kind of surgery to have.
"We know that three-quarters of women bring someone with them to these surgical appointments," says Dr. Hawley. "We look at it as an opportunity because the surgeon is not explaining just to the patient what the treatments are like...there's another person in the room who can help them to remember what was talked about." Dr. Hawley recommends bringing a friend or family member with you to important medical appointments. "You're going to want other people to help you think through the issues after you get all of the information about it," she says.
5. The harshest cut
Cut yourself while cooking? The wound may heal more slowly if you have a bad relationship with your spouse. In a recent research study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, nurses attached a vacuum pump to couples' arms to raise blisters. Then the couples were asked to discuss and try to resolve one or two marital issues. The upshot? Couples who demonstrated higher levels of hostile behaviors healed only 60 percent as quickly as the couples who showed low hostility.
6. Feeling your way
In some cases, it's not purely the number of social connections we have that impacts our health, but the way we feel about that number. Linda Waite, Ph.D., a researcher at the University of Chicago, co-authored a study that reviewed both how connected older people were and how lonely they felt—and found that feelings trumped reality. People who feel the most lonely are most likely to experience poor mental health, even if they have what others would consider a good social network.
In the study results, the subjects who were the most socially connected were three times as likely as the least connected people to report very good or excellent health, no matter how they felt about their social connections. But older adults who felt the least isolated were five times as likely to report very good or excellent health, no matter how many social connections they actually had. And subjects who felt most isolated reported 65 percent more depressive symptoms than those who felt least isolated, regardless of how connected they actually were. Dr. Waite isn't sure why people with many connections might feel lonely, but she believes that some people may be genetically inclined to do so.
