Want To Age More Slowly? These 4 Social Factors Count The Most

You probably know that social connection is vital for good health, and perhaps even that loneliness and isolation literally kill.

Indeed, “a lonely lifestyle” vs “family visit frequency” made it into the list of The Lifestyle Factors That Matter >8 Times More Than Genes

In the case of social connection, it:

• Maintains the parts of our brains needed for language and processing social cues
• Brings us social support in a way that will generally be protective against depression
• Means that when all goes wrong, we more likely have material support too

In the case of loneliness and isolation, it:

• Allows important parts of our brain to atrophy
• Will tend towards promoting depression, which can lead to suicidality (and at the very least a decline of physical health, even without suicidality)
• Means that if we slip in the shower, someone will find our body a month later

We wrote about some of these things, here: How To Beat Loneliness & Isolation

Cumulative social advantages

Researchers (Dr. Laura Kubzansky et al.) looked into biomarkers of epigenetic aging and systemic inflammation (which latter thing promotes many kinds of biological aging), and how they are affected by social factors.

Four key areas stood out:

1. The warmth and support you received from your parents growing up
2. How connected you feel to your community and neighborhood
3. Your involvement in religious or faith-based communities
4. The reliability of ongoing emotional support from friends and family

They hypothesized—correctly—that these factors would be inversely associated with the pro-aging epigenetic pathways and inflammatory biomarkers for which they were testing.

However, what surprised them was that this effect was cumulative over time, and had no significant associations with short-term stress markers (like cortisol, for example).

Now, some of these things are not modifiable—we can’t do much about our childhoods (alas).

Others are much more attainable for most people, like community involvement.

Religiousness… Well, we are a health science publication and don’t cover theology here, but it’s well-established that faith generally has benefits for social and mental health. It may or may not be something that a person can choose whether to have or not (any more than we can decide whether to believe the sky is green), but if you have some faith, there’s a fair argument for leaning into that rather than away from it, and by making your religious practice communal rather than solitary, if your circumstances allow.

As for that last item, the ongoing emotional support from friends and family, sometimes it can be difficult, for example, we wrote about Family Estrangement & How To Fix It.

But even without family, friends should be an option for anyone. Even if we are physically isolated, for example: Human Connection In An All-Too-Busy World ← this covers, amongst other things, how to get the most out of the options afforded to us by technology, allowing tech to enhance, rather than detract from, our social lives.

And while we’re at it, you might also want to Make Social Media Work For Your Mental Health, Rather Than Against It ← spoiler: no, it’s not about setting app timers!

Anyway, to read the paper in full, enjoy: Cumulative social advantage is associated with slower epigenetic aging and lower systemic inflammation

Want to learn more?

Check out this excellent book that we reviewed a while back:

Purpose: Design a Community & Change Your Life (A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Your Purpose and Making It Matter) by Gina Bianchini

…and, for that matter, for those of us who are for one reason or another unpartnered and for one reason or another intend to stay that way now:

The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center by Rhaina Cohen

…and for anyone who wants/needs it, do also check out our main feature: Singledom & Healthy Longevity

Enjoy!