Meet families or friends frequently to lower risk of premature death

You must be visiting your families or friends this Diwali holiday season. And if not, you would feel the urge to do so after reading this: Not socialising with friends or families may lead to an increased risk of your premature death.

According to a new study published in the journal BMC Medicine, social isolation or loneliness may increase the risk of premature death by 39 per cent.

“We examined two different types of loneliness and three different types of social isolation … and we found that each of these were associated with a higher risk of dying,” said Hamish Foster, first study author and clinical research fellow at the School of Health and Wellbeing of the University of Glasgow in Scotland, during a press briefing.

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Sense of loneliness

The authors of the study measured the sense of loneliness based on two major factors. How often participants felt they could confide in someone close to them and how frequently they felt lonely.

The authors measured the participants’ social isolation by these three factors:

1. Whether they lived alone.
2. How often they were visited by friends or families.
3. How often do they engage in group activities.

They took into account these five factors to detect any link between meeting with families or friends and risk of dying a premature death.

Data bank

Data from over 450,000 participants was studied for over a period of 12 years. These people, aged between 40 and 69, were recruited between 2006 and 2010 and were given a questionnaire about their social life.

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Researchers followed up with them 12 years later. And the results were shocking.

Results

Researchers found that those who were more frequently visited by families or friends had their risk of dying a premature death reduced by 39 per cent.

Interestingly, meeting and engaging with people who were not loved ones didn’t reduce the increased risk of premature death.

These close contacts may have provided “more practical support or be more likely to identify subtle deteriorations in the health and well-being of an individual,” the authors concluded.

(With inputs from agencies)