Having a small social circle, or even worse having no social network, is as bad for people as smoking, a new study suggests. Researchers at Yale University say a person;s position in the social network is linked to blood markers of stress. They found that the more people would call a person ‘a friend’, the lower levels of fibrinogen that person would have in their blood, an indicator of a heath attack. The association between social isolation and fibrinogen is comparable to the effect of smoking, and greater than that of low education, a conventional measure of socioeconomic disadvantage, the scientists said. What matters is how others see us, not how we see them.
Ischaemic heart disease, also known as coronary heart disease, and stroke are the biggest health risks of social isolation and thes conditions are also the two leading causes of death worldwide.
The scientists, writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, said: “The magnitude of the relationship is considerable, with social isolation in our study population… predicting elevations in fibrinogen comparable to the effect of smoking.”