It’s well known that good friends are key to happiness, but research has suggested time and time again that they are also beneficial to our health. Indeed, a new study shows that maintaining relationships with friends as we age could even go so far as to ward off neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia, by keeping the brain young.
Researchers analysed the social habits of ‘SuperAgers’ – those aged 80 and above – against a group of people in their 50s and 60s, comparing several psychological factors.
It was found that individuals in the older age group who reported having maintained “positive, warm and trusting” friendships were more likely to have brains that worked as well as those of people 30 years younger – suggesting that maintaining a solid social circle could be key to slowing the cognitive effects of ageing. Researcher Emily Rogalski said:
“You don’t have the be the life of the party, but this study supports the theory that maintaining strong social networks seems to be linked to slower cognitive decline.”
She added: “It’s not as simple as saying if you have a strong social network, you’ll never get Alzheimer’s disease, but if there is a list of healthy choices one can make, such as eating a certain diet and not smoking, maintaining strong social networks may be an important one on that list. None of these things by themselves guarantee you don’t get the disease, but they may still have health benefits.”
There is currently no cure for dementia, which has recently overtaken heart disease as the leading cause of death in the UK, but the team voiced hopes that these findings could prove to be an exciting step toward understanding what factors underlie the preservation of cognitive ability in advanced age – particularly those that may be modifiable.
Previous studies have shown that those with dementia often suffer a decline in social networks, so it is important to ensure that elderly individuals maintain relationships despite potential health difficulties.
The study was undertaken at Northwestern university in Illinois and published in the journal PLOS One.
