Re: Social ties = good health

[Guest guest]

For you, Francesca, and all of the female gender; sorry guys. Maybe next time I'll find something for you. This is from a friend of a friend. By the way, Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone, teaches Medical Ethics for one thing at Stanford. If you haven't read this book, pick it up; I couldn't put it down once I started it. A very good story with some interesting uses of the English language. "I just finished taking an evening class at Stanford. The last lecture was on the mind-body connection-the relationship between stress and disease.The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends.At first everyone laughed, but he was serious. Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality “girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin-a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being.Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings?-rarely. Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers, and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym. There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged--not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking! So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky.Sooooo, let's toast friendships with our girlfriends. Evidently it's very good for our health."

[Guest guest]

Francesca said:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/research-suggests-that-good-friends-may-actually-be-great-medicine/2011/03/07/ABMbvwV_story.html

Ruth then, said:

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=204729775990 & topic=15781

Al says, according to the below free full-text seemingly forming the basis of Frncesca's story:

"This finding remained consistent across ... sex ...".

Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review.Holt-Lunstad J, TB, Layton JB.PLoS Med. 2010 Jul 27;7(7):e1000316. Review.PMID: 20668659 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Free PMC Articlehttp://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000316#pmed-1000316-t004

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The quality and quantity of individuals' social relationships has been linked not only to mental health but also to both morbidity and mortality.

OBJECTIVES: This meta-analytic review was conducted to determine the extent to which social relationships influence risk for mortality, which aspects of social relationships are most highly predictive, and which factors may moderate the risk.

DATA EXTRACTION: Data were extracted on several participant characteristics, including cause of mortality, initial health status, and pre-existing health conditions, as well as on study characteristics, including length of follow-up and type of assessment of social relationships.

RESULTS: Across 148 studies (308,849 participants), the random effects weighted average effect size was OR = 1.50 (95% CI 1.42 to 1.59), indicating a 50% increased likelihood of survival for participants with stronger social relationships. This finding remained consistent across age, sex, initial health status, cause of death, and follow-up period. Significant differences were found across the type of social measurement evaluated (p<0.001); the association was strongest for complex measures of social integration (OR = 1.91; 95% CI 1.63 to 2.23) and lowest for binary indicators of residential status (living alone versus with others) (OR = 1.19; 95% CI 0.99 to 1.44).

CONCLUSIONS: The influence of social relationships on risk for mortality is comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality. -- Aalt Pater

From: Ruth <cccucc@...> Sent: Tue, March 15, 2011 4:23:45 PMSubject: Re: [ ] Social ties = good health

For you, Francesca, and all of the female gender; sorry guys. Maybe next time I'll find something for you. This is from a friend of a friend.

By the way, Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone, teaches Medical Ethics for one thing at Stanford. If you haven't read this book, pick it up; I couldn't put it down once I started it. A very good story with some interesting uses of the English language.

"I just finished taking an evening class at Stanford. The last lecture was on the mind-body connection-the relationship between stress and disease.

The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends.

At first everyone laughed, but he was serious. Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality “girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin-a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being.

Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings?-rarely. Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers, and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.

There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged--not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking! So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky.

Sooooo, let's toast friendships with our girlfriends. Evidently it's very good for our health."