Healthy Relationships--Healthy Life

Healthy Relationships--Healthy Life

Everybody's Normal Until You Get to Know Them by John
Ortberg. I've included this quote from the book: "One
of the most thorough research projects on relationships
is called the Alameda County Study. Headed by a Harvard
social scientist, it tracked the lives of 7,000 people
over nine years. Researchers found that the most
isolated people were three times more likely to die
than those with strong relational connections.

"People who had bad health habits (such as smoking,
poor eating habits, obesity, or alcohol use) but strong
social ties lived significantly longer than people who
had great health habits but were isolated. In other
words, it is better to eat Twinkies with good friends
than to eat broccoli alone. Harvard researcher Robert
Putnam notes that if you belong to no groups but decide
to join one, "you cut your risk of dying over the next
year in half."

"For another study, as reported in the Journal of the
American Medical Association, 276 volunteers were
infected with a virus that produces the common cold.
The study found that people with strong emotional
connections did four times better fighting off illness
than those who were more isolated. These people were
less susceptible to colds, had less virus, and produced
significantly less mucous than relationally isolated
subjects."

-- Submitted by Talmadge Hobbs