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Maintaining good social relationships in everyday life isn’t just good for morale, according to a new study. In women aged 40 and over, it would also be a guarantee of good health against several chronic diseases.
Friendship is important throughout life, and this is not the latest Australian study published in the journal General Psychiatry who will claim otherwise. According to her, the lack of friends and qualitative relationship would indeed be a risk factor in the occurrence of chronic diseases, in the same way as overweight, lack of physical activity or alcohol consumption. On the contrary, maintaining a friendship over time would be beneficial in all respects.
Chronic diseases: twice the risk when you are not satisfied with your social life
The authors thus studied the data of 7,694 women who were between 45 and 50 years old in 1996 and this, until 2016. The candidates filled out questionnaires on their health and their well-being and evaluated throughout this time their satisfaction with their different types of relationship: love, family, friends and colleagues.
On the health side, during this time they monitored the – potential – development of 11 chronic diseases: diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, osteoporosis, arthritis, cancer, depression and anxiety.
According to their observations, the scientists noted that 58% of the participants who did not have a chronic disease at the start of the study, developed one afterwards. But women who had few social relationships multiplied this risk:
“A middle-aged woman with the lowest levels of satisfaction had more than twice the risk of developing several chronic conditions than those who were very satisfied with their relationships”explains the main author.
The researchers thus insist on the fact that the quality of social relations must be undertaken in the overall prevention of these diseases.
Good in your body, good in your head!
Friendship, a virtuous circle that encourages women to take better care of themselves
How can this difference in risk between women satisfied with their circle of friends and the others be explained? The researchers do not have a firm answer but formulate a hypothesis.
“A partner can encourage you to get your checkups more often, studies have shown that single people are less likely to see their doctor. If you are satisfied with your relationship with your friends, your partner, you are more likely to follow preventive health measures. You exercise together or you eat healthy foods together. It’s company. I think it improves your quality of life.”
A positive effect that we had already noticed in couples.
However, this positive factor is added to the good resolutions but does not replace a healthy lifestyle. Thus, to avoid developing one of these 11 chronic diseases, it is above all recommended to keep a stable weight, have regular physical activity several times a week and control alcohol consumption.