For today's health researchers, a person's connectedness with
family, friends, and community has a new significance. It means fewer
illnesses and medical complications, and faster recovery and rehabilitation.
Connectedness may be the single most important factor for survival.
Just ten or fifteen years ago, had anyone blamed loneliness for physical
illness, he or she would've been laughed at. A doctor making such
a claim would've been thrown out of the medical society. Nobody
thinks such a claim to be fantastic or "soft science" anymore. Isolation
has emerged as a significant health risk in numerous studies across the
world.
In one such study, researchers followed 4700 residents of Alameda county, California, from 1965 to 1974. In ten-year period, the people who reported the least social contact, died at a rate nearly three times higher than those reporting the most. The nature of companionship didn't matter—it could be anyone, a partner, relative or a friend. What mattered was the degree of connectedness with others—the amount of time one spent in the company of others.
As a result of this awareness, "enlightened" researchers are not merely
asking people about their cholesterol, diet, or exercise, but they want
to know about the quality of their relationships. Today's researchers
ask fairly specific questions, such as the following:
"Do you feel isolated?"
"Does your wife show you her love?"
"Are you close to your parents?"
"Do you feel loved?"
"Do you have a confidant?"
"Do you live alone?"
Imagine being asked questions of this nature! If you're
like me, perhaps, you want to shout back at the interrogator, "It's none
of your business, doc!" However, all of the above questions have
proven to be highly relevant to health. How you answer them can tell
professionals something about the status of your health in years to come.
For instance, women who say they feel isolated are three-and-a half times as likely to die of breast, ovarian, or uterine cancer over a 17-year period. In another study, the single most important factor in a cancer patient's history was not exposure to a chemical, pollutant, or carcinogen, but the loss of a loved one within five years of the onset of cancer. Seventy-three percent of cancer patients in that survey had lost a loved one in the five years prior to the onset of cancer.
Men who say that their wives don't show them love suffer 50% more angina
over a five year period than those who say their wives do.
Male medical students who felt close to their parents were less likely
to develop cancer or mental illness in later years than those who didn't
feel so.
Among heart patients, those who felt the least loved had fifty percent
more arterial damage than those who felt the most loved. That is
as close a connection between love and heart as one can get, medically
speaking. Here is another evidence for more of the same. Among
unmarried heart patients, those who said that they had a confidant were
three times less likely to die within five years than the ones who said
they didn't.
People who volunteer their time in helping others and/or participate
in religious and community groups remain more healthy. Participation
in a support group consisting of people who have a similar problem is highly
beneficial for rehabilitation after a medical illness.
What you do today has effect on your health, four or five years from
now. Therefore, to be happier and healthier tomorrow, stay connected
today.
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Copyright 1996, Mind Publications
Dr. Vijai Sharma
Your Life Coach
By Telephone