Here’s an interesting study. Apparently people who have a good social network of friends and neighbours are likely to live longer.
In their study, which looked at over 300,000 people from four continents over a period of seven years, those with the strongest social networks fared best in terms of health outcomes and lifespan. They were nearly twice (1.5 times) as likely to be alive at any given age than those who were lonely.
The protective benefit from good relationships applies at all ages. It’s not just something which is good for the elderly.
These findings shouldn’t be a surprise. Human beings are social creatures. We need to love and to be loved to really thrive. As Christakis shows well in his “Connected” our social networks powerfully influence our lives. This study shows that this influence can mean the difference between life and death.
The dominant health paradigm seems to be take drugs – drugs to keep you well, drugs to make you better, drugs to keep you alive. We need a better paradigm than that. We need one which instead emphasises the importance of living and living well. Just as a recent study showed the importance of the living environment on health, this study shows the importance of the social environment. These studies shift the emphasis away from a mechanistic understanding of health to one where networks, context, relationships and the environment take centre stage. But there’s not profit in that for drug companies, is there? –
Heroes Not Zombies 
Bob, i couldn’t agree more with your post!Just yesterday i was having a conversation with a friend about the possibility of free bus passes being removed from our pensioners.As the conversation progressed he made a comment along the lines of “i suppose if its between getting your prescription free or your bus free, what do you choose ?” We agreed that for many folk the importance of getting out, socializing, and just being around other people is a lifeline, that may not be available should their pass not be free.Often, this can be more important than certain medications.It all goes back to the freedom to choose whats best for each person, choices that often are not part of our health care system!The findings in the research you have in this post makes absolute perfect sense.And yes, at every age without exception.