Chatting to colleagues, neighbours and other parents on the playground benefits people’s wellbeing just as much as close friendships, new research suggests.
Regularly interacting with acquaintances prevents lung function decline just as much as having strong partner, family or friend relationships, a study found. Lung function is a marker of health and longevity.
Study author Professor Sheldon Cohen, from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, said: ‘Low-intimacy roles, like being a volunteer, were as equally effective in protecting lung function as high-intimacy ones, like having a spouse, which highlights the big impact a wide social network can make on your health’.
Researchers believe such interactions protect against stress and encourage people to lead healthier lifestyles.
Chatting to colleagues benefits people’s wellbeing just as much as close friendships (stock)
How the research was carried out
The researchers analysed more than 4,000 people aged between 52 and 94.
The participants’ lung function was assessed at the start of the study and four years later.
At least once a month, the participants were asked to report on their social interactions.
‘Every social role protects you more’
Results suggest that the more interactions a person has, the better their lung function is.
Professor Cohen told SF Gate: ‘We found that social integration has a graded effect, so that every additional social role protects you that much more.’
The researchers believe people with more acquaintances are also less likely to smoke and more likely to exercise.
The findings were published in the journal Health Psychology.
A photo a day keeps the blues away
This comes after research released last April suggested taking a photo a day is good for people’s wellbeing.
Posting images in online photo-sharing forums for two months gives people a sense of routine, boosts their interaction with others and makes them feel more engaged with their surroundings, a study found.
A daily photo also encourages people to leave the house, with 76 per cent of the pictures in the study being taken outdoors, the research adds.
Some even claim sharing photos with others helped them cope with a death or illness in the family, the study found.
The researchers, from Lancaster University, said the practice is ‘an active process of creating meaning, in which a new conceptualisation of wellbeing emerges.’