Why being a sociable person may help you to live longer

Taking part in social activity almost every day could significantly extend people's lives, experts say

Study suggests frequent socialising can add years to the lives of seniors. PA

The more often people socialise, the longer they can expect to live, a study suggests.

Older people who socialised daily, weekly or monthly had a significantly greater chance of a longer life than those who socialised the least or not at all, experts found.

Researchers from Sichuan University West China Hospital looked at data for 28,563 Chinese people who were asked about their socialising habits as part of a long-term study, with answers provided in every three years, from 2002 to 2014.

Published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the research asked people, who were aged 89 on average at the start of the study: "Do you take part in some social activities?"

The options for answering were: almost every day; not daily, but at least once a week; not weekly, but at least once a month; not monthly, but sometimes; and never.

Survival was tracked for an average of five years or until people died.

Over the first five years of the study, 25,406 people said they did not engage in any social activity, 1,379 said sometimes; 693 said at least once a month, 553 at least once a week and 532 almost daily.

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During the entire study, 21,161 (74 per cent) people died, of whom 15,728 did so in the first five years.

In the first five years, after adjusting for factors such as sex, age, diet and whether somebody was married, the death rate was 18.4 for every 100 people who never socialised.

It was 8.8 for every 100 of those who socialised occasionally, 8.3 among those who did so at least monthly, 7.5 among those who socialised at least once a week and 7.3 among those who did so nearly every day.

In the first five years, compared with people who never socialised, those who socialised sometimes had a significantly longer overall survival time.

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But it was even higher among those who socialised not daily but at least once a week, and among those who did so almost every day.

However, these effects seemed to diminish after five years, with only socialising nearly every day having an effect among those who managed to live that long.

“This study found that frequent participation in social activity was associated with prolonged overall survival time," the authors said.

“From baseline [the start of the study] to five years of follow-up, the more frequent the social activity, the more prolonged the survival time.

“However, after five years of follow-up, there was a threshold effect regarding the association between social activity frequency and overall survival time, and only participating in social activity almost every day could significantly extend the overall survival time.”