Scientists say your social life can slow down aging. here’s what they found

I recently heard aging expert Professor Luigi Ferrucci speak at the medical school of my local university. One line really stuck with me: “The next great step in the science of aging will be to understand how lifestyle factors slow aging.”

For me, that’s the ultimate goal. if we can slow it down aging processWe can delay or shorten the time we live with age-related diseases. In other words, we can stay healthy longer and experience diseases only in the last few years of life, leaving us feeling younger and better overall.

As Ferrucci puts it, a new Study was being published, demonstrating one of the most surprising factors influencing Ageing We have a social life. This suggests that staying connected to others can slow down our rapid aging.

We have known for some time that people with stronger social relationships live longer and enjoy better health. It is less clear how our social relationships affect our bodies on a biological level.

In this new US study of more than 2,000 adults, researchers looked at the strength and stability of people’s social ties – things like family relationships, involvement in community or religious groups, emotional support and how active they were in their communities.

They devised a measure called “cumulative social advantage” (CSA) – essentially, how socially connected and supported a person is. This was a step forward as most earlier studies had only looked at single factors such as marriage or friendship.

The researchers then compared CSA to various measures of aging. he saw biological age (based on DNA changes, known as the “epigenetic clock”), levels of inflammation throughout the body, and how people’s stress-related hormones – such as cortisol and adrenaline – were behaving.

They found that people with stronger social interactions experienced slower biological aging and less inflammation. However, there was not much of a correlation between social life and short-term stress responses, although the researchers suggested this may simply be because these are harder to measure.

Overall, the study adds to growing evidence that our social relationships are deeply linked as we age. But perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised. Man has evolved as a social animal over hundreds of thousands of years.

For our ancient ancestors, joining a group wasn’t just about company – it was key to survival. Working together kept us safe, helped us find food, and helped our well-being. Then again, it makes sense that our bodies thrive when we’re socially connected.

social benefits

The study also found that social advantage is linked to widening inequalities. Slower aging and less inflammation have often been observed in people with higher levels of education, better income, or belonging to certain ethnic groups. This shows that our social and economic circumstances affect how we age.

There seem to be two ways to respond to this. First, we need social policies that reduce poverty and improve education and opportunity, as these factors clearly influence health and aging. But second, we also have some personal control. Strengthening your own social life – staying connected, supported and involved – can also make a difference.

I remember being in Washington DC in 2014 for the 40th anniversary of the US National Institute on Aging, where Ferrucci now serves as chief scientific director. During the program, someone asked the head of social sciences: “What will be the most important research area for the next century?” Without hesitation he replied: “Social sciences and genetics.”

At the time, no such research program existed – but he was right. As this new study shows, bringing these two fields together is helping us understand not only how we age, but how we can age better.