A New Study Shows Good Friends Make You Healthier (and Live Longer): How Loneliness Impacts Physical and Mental Health

But what matters even more is the quality of those friendships.

A clinical review of nearly 150 studies found that people with strong social ties have a 50 percent better chance of survival, regardless of age, sex, health status, and cause of death, than those with weaker ties. In more direct terms, the health risk of having few friends is similar to smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and has a greater impact on your lifespan than obesity or lack of exercise.

Keep in mind “strong social ties” refers to real friends, not social-media friends or connections. (I have a million-plus LinkedIn followers, but they’re hardly friends, much less close friends.) In fact, having too many superficial, distant, and less than meaningful relationships can actually lead to feeling more insecure and lonely rather than less, which this study shows actually increases your risk of illness and death to the same degree as obesity, smoking, or alcoholism.

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Clearly, having friends can help you live a longer life.

But it can also help you live a healthier life. A study recently published in Nature Communications found suggests that loneliness and social isolation can cost people years of healthy life, especially when it comes to their mental health: men experiencing both lost about 5.8 years free from depression and anxiety, while women lost roughly 3.7 years.

Keep in mind loneliness and social isolation are different. In research terms, social isolation refers to an objective lack of social connections; think quantity. Loneliness refers to a subjective lack of meaningful relationships; think quality. (I can interact with a lot of people, but if I don’t feel close to those people, I could still feel lonely.)