Growing Young

by Marta Zaraska

  In the words of one Rosetan housewife…—Harrington, Anne. The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine (New York: W.W. Norton & Company: 2008), 180.

  A happy marriage equals a 49 percent lower mortality risk. —Julianne Holt-Lunstad, David A. Sbarra and Theodore F. Robles, “Advancing Social Connection as a Public Health Priority in the United States,” American Psychologist 72 (2017).

  Living with someone, even just a roommate, as opposed to living alone…— Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Timothy B. Smith and J. Bradley Layton, “Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review,” PLOS Medicine (2010) AND Julianne Holt-Lunstad, David A. Sbarra and Theodore F. Robles, “Advancing Social Connection as a Public Health Priority in the United States,” American Psychologist 72 (2017).

  Having a large network of friends: 45 percent. —Julianne Holt-Lunstad, David A. Sbarra and Theodore F. Robles, “Advancing Social Connection as a Public Health Priority in the United States,” American Psychologist 72 (2017).

  …Roseto effect, you would get a whopping 65 percent reduction in mortality. —Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Timothy B. Smith and J. Bradley Layton, “Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review,” PLOS Medicine (2010).

  A study done in Singapore showed that using a Fitbit does not lead to improved health or fitness. —Eric A. Finkelstein et al., “Effectiveness of activity trackers with and without incentives to increase physical activity (TRIPPA): a randomised controlled trial,” The Lancet 4 (2016): 983-995.

  Even more troubling was another trial in which wearing a fitness tracker actually led to a slower weight loss. —John M. Jakicic et al., “Effect of Wearable Technology Combined With a Lifestyle Intervention on Long-term Weight Loss,” JAMA 316 (2016): 1161-1171.

  …you can push your risk of death down by about 66 percent. —Martin Loef and Harald Walach, “The combined effects of hsealthy lifestyle behaviors on all cause mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis,” Preventive Medicine 55 (2012): 163-170.

  Table 1a

  Whole grain intake—3 servings/day: –23% —Lyn M Steffen et al., “Associations of whole-grain, refined-grain, and fruit and vegetable consumption with risks of all-cause mortality and incident coronary artery disease and ischemic stroke: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study,” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 78 (2003): 383-390.

  Cruciferous vegetables intake—minimum 5.8 oz/day: –20% —“Cruciferous vegetable consumption is associated with a reduced risk of total and cardiovascular disease mortality,” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 94 (2011): 240–246.

  Table 1b

  Feeling you have others you can count on for support: –35% —Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Timothy B. Smith and J. Bradley Layton, “Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review,” PLOS Medicine (2010).

  Extraversion: –24% —Eileen K. Graham et al., “Personality Predicts Mortality Risk: An Integrative Data Analysis of 15 International Longitudinal Studies,” Journal of Research in Personality (2017).

  Agreeableness: –20% —ibid.

  Having a purpose in life: –17% —Randy Cohen, Chirag Bavishi and Alan Rozanski, “Purpose in Life and Its Relationship to All-Cause Mortality and Cardiovascular Events: A Meta-Analysis,” Psychosomatic Medicine 78 (2016).

  Table 2a

  Red meat intake: +29% —Susanna C. Larsson and Nicola Orsini, “Red Meat and Processed Meat Consumption and All-Cause Mortality: A Meta-Analysis,” American Journal of Epidemiology 179 (2014): 282-289.

  Obesity, grade 2 and 3: +29% —Katherine M. Flegal et al., “Association of All-Cause Mortality With Overweight and Obesity Using Standard Body Mass Index Categories, a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis,” JAMA 309 (2013): 71-82.

  Vitamin A supplementation: +16% —Goran Bjelakovic et al., “Mortality in Randomized Trials of Antioxidant Supplements for Primary and Secondary Prevention. Systematic Review and Meta-analysis,” JAMA 297 (2007): 842-857.

  Beta-carotene supplementation: +7% —ibid.

  Table 2b

  Pessimism: +14% —Hilary A. Tindle et al., “Optimism, Cynical Hostility, and Incident Coronary Heart Disease and Mortality in the Women’s Health Initiative,” Circulation 120 (2009): 656-662.

  Unhappiness: +14% —Elizabeth M. Lawrence, Richard G. Rogers and Tim Wadsworth, “Happiness and Longevity in the United States,” Social Science & Medicine 145 (2015): 115-119.

  Neuroticism: +14% —Páraic S. O’Súilleabháin and Brian M.Hughes, “Neuroticism predicts all-cause mortality over 19-years: The moderating effects on functional status, and the angiotensin-converting enzyme,” Journal of Psychosomatic Research 110 (2018): 32-37.

  CHAPTER 5: THE GNAWING PARASITE OF LONELINESS

  A large, high-quality study conducted in Alameda County, California…—Lisa Berkman and S. Leonard Syme, “Social Networks, Host Resistance, and Mortality: a Nine-Year Follow-up Study of Alameda County Residents,” American Journal of Epidemiology 109 (1979)

  It’s been shown over and over that people of any age who have poor social relations…—N.K. Valtorta et al., “Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for coronary heart disease and stroke: systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal observational studies,” Heart (2016) AND G.F. Giesbrecht et al., “The buffering effect of social support on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function during pregnancy,” Psychosomatic Medicine 75 (2013): 856-862.

  …compared to loners, people who are surrounded by caring others are over three times as likely to listen to their doctors and take their pills as prescribed. —M. Robin DiMatteo, “Social Support and Patient Adherence to Medical Treatment: A Meta-Analysis,” Health Psychology 23 (2004): 207-218.

  Imagine over three hundred people coming into a research lab and getting voluntarily infected with cold viruses squirted directly into their nostrils…—Sheldon Cohen et al., “Sociability and Susceptibility to the Common Cold,” Psychological Science 14 (2003).

  “I would stand in front of the window looking out over the neighborhood…” —The Loneliness Project, accessed May 27, 2018, http://thelonelinessproject.org

  One 2015 meta-analysis of studies established that while objective social isolation may increase the risk of death by 29 percent…—Julianne Holt-Lunstad and Timothy B. Smith, “Loneliness and Social Isolation as Risk Factors for Mortality: A Meta-Analytic Review,” Perspectives on Psychological Science 10 (2015): 227-237.

  If you add up multiple indicators of social support, objective and subjective…—Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Timothy B. Smith and J. Bradley Layton, “Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review,” PLOS Medicine (2010).

  In his lab studies, Cacioppo found that lonely people experience more fragmented and restless sleep…—John Cacioppo et al., “Do lonely days invade the nights? Potential social modulation of sleep efficiency,” Psychological Science 13 (2002): 385–388.

  In one experiment, researchers asked volunteers to play Cyberball while inside a magnetic resonance imaging scanner. —N.I. Eisenberger, M.D. Lieberman and K.D. Williams, “Does rejection hurt? An fMRI study of social exclusion,” Science 302 (2003): 290-292.

  Carriers of the GG variant of the oxytocin receptor gene rs53576 feel more gloom…—Robyn J. McQuaid et al., “Distress of ostracism: oxytocin receptor gene polymorphism confers sensitivity to social exclusion,” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 10 (2015).

  In one fascinating but disturbing study, scientists collected reports on loneliness from 181 people. —Turhan Canli et al., “Loneliness 5 years ante-mortem is associated with disease-related differential gene expression in postmortem dorsolateral prefrontal cortex,” Translational Psychiatry 8 (2018).

  …two Yale University researchers calculated that people who consider themselves socially isolated take more warm baths and showers. —John A. Bargh and Idit Shalev, “The Substituta
bility of Physical and Social Warmth in Daily Life,” Emotion 12 (2012): 154-162.

  In one experiment, researchers approached dozens of people who were lunching at a food court…—Andrew W. Perkins, Jeff Rotman and Seung Hwan (Mark) Lee, “Embodied Cognition and Social Consumption: Self- Regulating Temperature Through Social Products and Behaviors,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 24 (2014): 234-240.

  Such recollections can make people estimate the room temperature as higher than it really is by as much as 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2.o°C.). —Aleksandra Szymkow et al., “Warmer Hearts, Warmer Rooms How Positive Communal Traits Increase Estimates of Ambient Temperature,” Social Psychology 44 (2013): 167-176.

  Holding a steaming drink in their hands makes people more trusting and “warm” toward fellow humans. —Lawrence E. Williams and John A. Bargh, “Experiencing Physical Warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth,” Science 322 (2008).

  For many animals, huddling allows them to save precious energy resources. —Hans IJzerman et al., “A theory of social thermoregulation in human primates,” Frontiers in Psychology (2015).

  In a laboratory room at the University of Central Lancashire, UK…—Munirah Bangee et al., “Loneliness and attention to social threat in young adults: Findings from an eye tracker study,” Personality and Individual Differences 63 (2014).

  “ ‘Is it literally true that everybody hates me? No? Then why do I keep saying this to myself?’ ” —Cacioppo, Johan and William Patrick. Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection (New York: W.W. Norton & Company: 2008), 236.

  …studies show that if people are hypnotized and their thoughts are redirected toward feelings of social connection…—John T. Cacioppo et al., “Loneliness within a nomological net: An evolutionary perspective,” Journal of Research in Personality 40 (2006): 1054-1085.

  In one experiment conducted in Switzerland and published in the prestigious journal of the National Academy of Sciences…—Katrin H. Preller et al., “Effects of serotonin 2A/1A receptor stimulation on social exclusion processing,” PNAS 113 (2016): 5119-5124.

  CHAPTER 6: FRIENDS WITH (LONGEVITY) BENEFITS

  Research shows that married people have lower risks of heart issues, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. —C. Helmer et al., “Marital Status and Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease,” Neurology 53 (1999).

  They even sleep more soundly…—Jen-Hao Chen, Linda J. Waite and Diane S. Lauderdale, “Marriage, Relationship Quality, and Sleep among U.S. Older Adults,” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 56 (2015).

  …and respond better to flu vaccines. —Anna C.Phillips et al., “Bereavement and marriage are associated with antibody response to influenza vaccination in the elderly,” Brain, Behavior, and Immunity 20 (2006): 279-289.

  If a married person does have a heart attack requiring coronary artery bypass grafting…—Kathleen B. King and Harry T. Reis, “Marriage and long-term survival after coronary artery bypass grafting,” Health Psychology 31 (2012): 55-62.

  When researchers followed over 700,000 patients with several different types of cancer…—Ayal A. Aizer et al., “Marital Status and Survival in Patients With Cancer,” Journal of Clinical Oncology 31 (2013): 3869-3876.

  In one large sample, not being married meant even three times the risk of death for men, and a risk of 20 percent higher for women. —Richard G. Rogers, “Marriage, Sex, and Mortality,” Journal of Marriage and Family 57 (1995):515-526.

  …the most dangerous period is the first week—the risk of dying from natural causes doubles for them. —J. Kaprio, M. Koskenvuo and H. Rita, “Mortality after bereavement: a prospective study of 95,647 widowed persons,” American Journal of Public Health (1987).

  In a Finnish study published in 2015, those who cohabited without “putting a ring on it”…—Fanny Kilpi et al., “Living arrangements as determinants of myocardial infarction incidence and survival: A prospective register study of over 300,000 Finnish men and women,” Social Science & Medicine 133 (2015).

  For both spouses, low marital satisfaction has been linked to physiological processes…—Sarah C. E. Stanton and Lorne Campbell, “Psychological and Physiological Predictors of Health in Romantic Relationships: An Attachment Perspective,” Journal of Personality 82 (2014).

  Happily married women, meanwhile, are three times less likely to develop the metabolic syndrome…—Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser et al., “Marital Discord, Past Depression, and Metabolic Responses to High-Fat Meals: Interpersonal Pathways to Obesity,” Psychoneuroendocrinology 52 (2015): 239-250.

  Two Chinese studies have found that arranged marriages don’t bring the same levels of well-being…—Keera Allendorf, “Determinants of Marital Quality in an Arranged Marriage Society,” Social Science Research 42 (2013): 59-70.

  In one rather unpleasant experiment, a few dozen married couples were invited into a lab…—Jean-Philippe Gouin et al., “Marital Behavior, Oxytocin, Vasopressin, and Wound Healing,” Psychoneuroendocrinology 35 (2010): 1082-1090.

  Romantic couples tend to synchronize their blood pressure, cortisol levels, pulse, heart rate, finger temperature, and electrical activity in the chest. —Adela C. Timmons, Gayla Margolin, and Darby E. Saxbe, “Physiological Linkage in Couples and its Implications for Individual and Interpersonal Functioning: A Literature Review,” Journal of Family Psychology 29 (2015): 720–731.

  Being divorced means about 30 percent higher risk of death…—Eran Shor et al., “Meta-analysis of Marital Dissolution and Mortality: Reevaluating the Intersection of Gender and Age,” Social Science & Medicine 75 (2012).

  Certainly for the Betars, named the “longest-married couple in America,” good marriage did seem to pair with good health…— Simmy Richman, “John Betar: Syrian refugee and wife Ann become ‘longest married couple in America’ after being together for 83 years,” The Independent, accessed https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/john-betar-syrian-refugee-and-wife-ann-become-longest-married-couple-in-america-after-being-together-a6872806.html

  “We never hold grudges. Most arguments are about food,” John said. —Kashmira Gander, “John and Ann Betar: Couple Married for 83 Years Give Relationship Advice on Twitter,” The Independent, accessed August 1, 2019, https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/john-and-ann-betar-couple-married-for-83-years-give-relationship-advice-on-twitter-a6876806.html

  “We are not arguing; we are listening. And we’ve always listened,” she said. —Lindsey Smith, “America’s ‘Longest-Married Couple’ Celebrates Historic 85th Wedding Anniversary,” Little Things, accessed August 1, 2019, https://www.littlethings.com/longest-married-couple-85-years/

  …it was possible to predict whether a couple would stay married over the next fourteen years with 93 percent accuracy…—John Mordechai Gottman and Robert Wayne Levenson, “The Timing of Divorce: Predicting When a Couple Will Divorce Over a 14-Year Period,” Journal of Marriage and Family 62 (2000): 737-745.

  The couples who volunteered for the study had to discuss a conflict topic for twenty minutes…—Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser et al., “Marital Discord, Past Depression, and Metabolic Responses to High-Fat Meals: Interpersonal Pathways to Obesity,” Psychoneuroendocrinology 52 (2015): 239-250.

  …research also shows that doing thrilling activities with someone you are attracted to fools your body on physiological level. —Donald Dutton and Arthur Aron, “Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 30 (1974): 510-517.

  …even fruit flies have shorter lives if they don’t have BFFs. —Hongyu Ruan and Chun-Fang Wu,”Social interaction-mediated lifespan extension of Drosophila Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase mutants,” PNAS 105 (2008): 7506–7510.

  Mice don’t take well to seclusion, either. —Navita Kaushal et al., “Socially Isolated Mice Exhibit a Blunted Homeostatic Sleep Response to Acute Sleep Deprivation Compared to Socially Paired Mice,” Brain Research 1454
(2012): 65-79.

  In one Japanese study, older men who met their friends less than a few times per year had 30 percent higher risk of dying…—Jun Aida et al., “Assessing the association between all-cause mortality and multiple aspects of individual social capital among the older Japanese,” BMC Public Health 11 (2011).

  When scientists studied elderly twins in Denmark, they also discovered that frequent contact with friends meant lower risk…—Domenica Rasulo, Kaare Christensen and Cecilia Tomassini, “The Influence of Social Relations on Mortality in Later Life: A Study on Elderly Danish Twins,” The Gerontologist 45 (2005): 601-608.

  The impact of friendship on longevity is so large that in many studies it overshadows the impact of how often you meet with your relatives…—ibid.

  A Dutch study showed, for example, that each additional contact in your network…—Lea Ellwardt et al,”Personal Networks and Mortality Risk in Older Adults: A Twenty-Year Longitudinal Study,” PLOS One (2015).

  …for instance, women have on average 3.8 friends in their “hair-care” networks…—Kazuyoshi Sugawara, “Spatial Proximity and Bodily Contact among the Central Kalahari San,” African Study Monograph (1984).

  …even though real-life friendships boosted self-reported health, Facebook ones did not. —Maria Luisa Lima et al., “All You Need Is Facebook Friends? Associations between Online and Face-to-Face Friendships and Health,” Frontiers in Psychology (2017).

  In yet another, high proportions of Facebook friends to offline ones meant higher levels of social isolation and loneliness. —Pamara Chang et al., “Age Differences in Online Social Networking: Extending Socioemotional Selectivity Theory to Social Network Sites,” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 59 (2015): 221-239.

  Other research reveals that hearing your mom’s reassuring words on the phone causes a larger oxytocin release…—Leslie J. Seltzer et al., “Instant messages vs. speech: hormones and why we still need to hear each other,” Evolution and Human Behavior 33 (2012): 42–45.