Going out with friends can help you live longer, ageing expert claims – while loneliness can have the same impact as smoking

Going out and socialising with friends can help lead to a longer life, according to an ageing expert.

But loneliness can have the same negative impact as smoking, revealed Professor Sarah Harper, who is the University of Oxford’s first professor of gerontology, the study of ageing.

Frequently mixing with other people can reduce the rate at which we age while loneliness is ‘really bad for us’, Professor Harper said.

The expert suggested we can train our cells to become ‘resilient’ to ageing by spending time with others.

‘Now we understand this relationship between what we call cell and society, and we can make a difference [to ageing],’ she told the BBC Inside Health podcast. 

‘In fact, a recent paper just came out which said that 60 per cent of our ageing can be controlled by how we live.’

Frequently mixing with other people can reduce the rate at which we age. File image

Professor Harper said the research is still early but will be ‘really important going forward’, adding there is ‘really strong evidence’ that loneliness can have the same impact as smoking.

Professor Harper suggested that by doing ‘health activities’ we can keep ourselves unstressed, mentally and physically. 

She said this involves a good diet, exercise, and ‘being socially interactive’.

Last year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared loneliness to be a pressing global health threat, with the US surgeon general saying that its mortality effects are equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.