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Life Guide U.S. essentials
English

Treat meeting people regularly as a health expense, and don't look for people only when your mood is low

  • Moderate value
  • Evidence A
  • Buys life
  • Disputed
  • Costs a little
  • Takes some hours
  • Some willpower

In plain words

People who rarely have contact with others have about a 30% higher chance of dying over the same period. For those who feel lonely it is about a quarter higher, and for those who live alone about 30% higher, more clearly in people under 65. These were found by following people over time, and it may also be that people whose health is already poor are more likely to live alone.

Cost

It costs a little money, plus the time to meet. The hard part is reaching out to make plans even when you feel fine.

What you get

This is the result of pooling 70 studies that recorded people's circumstances and then followed them (a meta-analysis), with 3,400,000 (340万) participants followed for an average of 7 years. Social isolation, loneliness and living alone were all linked to higher mortality. After removing confounders such as age and health condition, the weighted average odds ratios were: social isolation 1.29, loneliness 1.26, living alone 1.32. Converted, the chance of dying over the same period was about 30%, about a quarter and about 30% higher. The three had similar effect sizes, and were larger in people under 65 than in older people.

Notes

Disputed. These are associations seen by observing groups of people, not a controlled trial with assigned groups, so cause and effect can't be separated. People whose health is already poor are more likely to live alone and to have less social contact. The authors treat social relationships as a health factor of the same order as smoking and obesity, but no randomized trial shows that "more social contact lowers mortality." This does not conflict with "cut back on relationships that drain you" in §3: that item cuts the relationships that drain you, and this one is about keeping the few that restore your energy.

Evidence grade
A : Specific numbers from meta-analyses, large cohorts or randomized trials; for law and policy, the statute or official text.
Sources
  1. Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Baker M, Harris T, Stephenson D (2015). Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: a meta-analytic review. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(2), 227-237. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691614568352

Mentioned in

Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 22, tip 9. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer