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{{B}}Friends May Be Key to Living Longer{{/B}} Looking for the secret of a long life? Look closely at your friends. New research suggests that having a strong network of friends helps people live longer. "Older people with better social networks of friends were less likely to{{U}} (51) {{/U}}over a 10-year follow-up (随访) period than older people with{{U}} (52) {{/U}}friends networks," Lynne C. Giles of Flinders University in Australia told Reuters Health. But in what may come as a surprising finding to older people{{U}} (53) {{/U}}rely on their children and other relatives, having a large network of relatives was not associated with longer life, according{{U}} (54) {{/U}}Giles and her colleagues. "Of course, that is not to say that social networks{{U}} (55) {{/U}}children and other relatives are not important in many other ways," Giles said. Study after study has shown that elderly people who{{U}} (56) {{/U}}connected with lots of people tend to live longer lives.{{U}} (57) {{/U}}, few studies have examined whether different types of relationships - with friends, partners, children and{{U}} (58) {{/U}}relatives-have different effects on longevity (长寿). Giles's team set out to examine the relationship between various types of social networks and{{U}} (59) {{/U}}in a group of almost 1,500 Australians who were at least 70 years{{U}} (60) {{/U}}. Volunteers answered{{U}} (61) {{/U}}about their social networks and then were followed for 10 years. The researchers took into account several factors that could have influenced how long a person lived,{{U}} (62) {{/U}}sex, age, health and smoking status. What the study showed was{{U}} (63) {{/U}}Older people who reported better social networks of friends were{{U}} (64) {{/U}}likely to be alive at the end of the study than people with fewer friends. But relationships with children and other relatives did not have{{U}} (65) {{/U}}effect on survival in the study. |