How is social support linked to heart disease?
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Dr. Dean Ornish answered:Studies by investigators have shown that people who live alone have more heart disease than those who live with someone or even something-a plant or a pet, even a goldfish. So being the petter or the pettee has many health benefits, probably because it decreases isolation.
The quality of the social support is more important than the number of people involved who provide support. At Yale University School of Medicine, scientists studied 119 men and 40 women who were undergoing coronary angiography. They found that the more people felt loved and supported, the less coronary atherosclerosis they had at angiography, independent of other risk factors such as age, sex, income, hypertension, serum cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, genetics, and hostility.
Find out more about this book: Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease: The Only System Scie...
Studies by investigators have shown that people who live alone have more heart disease than those who live with someone or even something-a plant or a pet, even a goldfish. So being the petter or the pettee has many health benefits, probably because... More -
Dr. Sarah LoBisco answered:According to an article in Psychology Today, 25% of Americans have no meaningful social support at all, and over half of all Americans report having no close confidants or friends outside their immediate family.
According to Dr. Dean Ornish’s book, Love and Survival: The Scientific Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy:
In 1985, Dr. Berkman at California Department of Health Services studied 7,000 men and women living in Almedia County.
- Those who lacked social and community ties were 1.9 to 3.1 times more likely to die during nine year follow-up period independent of age, gender, race, SES, smoking, alcoholic beverage consumption, overeating, physical activity and utilization of preventative health services.
- Those who lived longest had close social ties and healthful behaviors
- In additional 8 year follow-up: those who were socially isolated or who just felt isolated had higher risk of dying of cancer
Circulation, a publication of the American Heart Association, also reported a connection between low social support (SS) and heart attack reoccurrence:
- Our findings associating low SS with worse health status and more depressive symptoms are consistent with previous studies in cardiac populations.
According to an article in Psychology Today, 25% of Americans have no meaningful social support at all, and over half of all Americans report having no close confidants or friends outside their immediate family. According to Dr. Dean Ornish’s... More
