Lesson 6 - Be a Social Animal
The healing power of love and intimacy
A study that tracked thousands of people over a nine-year period showed that those with strong emotional ties with family and friends had significantly lower death rates. Women in the study with social support were less likely to get cancer, and among men in the study who got cancer, those who had strong social ties lived longer than those who didn't.
In another study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers from Duke University found that out of more than 1,000 heart patients, those that did not have social support from friends and family were three times as likely to die within five years of diagnosis as those who had strong support from family and friends. The researchers concluded that having someone to talk to is a very powerful medicine.