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Longevity Atlas
Relationships

Nurturing social connection

Strong relationships raise survival odds by 50% — loneliness rivals smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

Impact 4/54/5Effort: a habit
First step today

Message someone today you haven't spoken to in over a month.

How

One fixed weekly meet-up (sport, choir, cards, volunteering), one real conversation a day, a “call them” list. Regularity matters more than quantity.

Evidence

Holt-Lunstad 2010 meta-analysis (148 studies, n=308,849): strong social ties +50% survival over 7.5 years. The Harvard Study of Adult Development has found the same for 85 years: relationship quality at 50 predicts health at 80 better than cholesterol.

Goals

Healthy yearsBrain, memory

Related studies

Sources

  1. Holt-Lunstad J et al. Social relationships and mortality risk – meta-analytic review. PLoS Med (2010) ↗

Last reviewed: 6 September 2026

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