Having a few good friends or a lot of them has always been advantageous. Those friendships may become even more vital as you become older. Friendships aren’t just for the social glue and glamour of life if you’re in your sixties or beyond: as you get older, solid friendships may alleviate loneliness, enhance your health, boost your sense of well-being, and even add years to your life.
Loneliness caused by a lack of friends might not only lead to melancholy, but it can also shorten your longevity.
According to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine that monitored over 1,600 men and women enrolled in the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, loneliness appears to raise the chance of dying early among those over 60. Loneliness was characterized by researchers as a loss of company as well as emotions of isolation or not belonging. Those who experienced loneliness were roughly 1.5 times more likely to die over the course of the six-year study. Furthermore, lonely people were less likely to be able to perform basic daily tasks and activities such as going around the block, dressing and showering, and carrying goods weighing less than 10 pounds. It’s enough to add to your sentiments of well-being if you have at least one person who understands you, a friend to whom you feel you can tell anything, she says.
