Friends can prolong your life - and a good outlook - Brief Article

Captain Kirk had Mr. Spock. Starsky had Hutch. Even Dr. Evil has Mini Me. According to researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, if you want to live a longer, healthier life, you gotta have friends.

In a 10-year study of more than 28,000 men, subjects who were socially isolated were 20 percent more likely to die from any cause than those who maintained a large network of family, friends and community involvement. The solitarians were 53 percent more likely to die from heart-related causes and more than twice as likely to die from accident or suicide.

"Social isolation is a `risk factor' for ill health that deserves as much attention as other risk factors for cardiovascular disease and other ailments," concludes the report, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

"A good friend can help keep the doctor away," confirms lead author Ichiro Kawachi, M.D.

IN A RELATED study, it appears that having the right attitude can also extend your existential allotment.

Researchers at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., found that subjects with "more positive self-perceptions of aging" outlived those with negative outlooks by more than seven years. The survival advantage prevailed even after the investigators accounted for age, gender, socioeconomic status, level of isolation, and health.

Previous research has indicated that a positive or negative disposition can impact the effects of stress on the heart. "It's likely that a number of behavioral, psychological and biological factors contribute to extending life," says lead author Becca R. Levy, Ph.D.

The Yale results were published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.