Why Staying Social Helps People Live Longer

Think about the healthiest person you know. The one who eats clean, never misses a workout, skips dinners and weekends with friends to stay on track. From the outside, they seem to be doing everything right.

What you don’t see is the cost.

One factor gaining scientific attention is something deceptively simple: staying socially engaged. Spending time with others, whether through volunteering, joining a club, or simply staying connected with family and friends appears to play a powerful role in how we age, both physically and mentally. 

Human connection has a measurable impact on how a person ages, and it is more powerful than most people realize. As the U.S. population ages nearly 1 in 5 Americans will be 65 or older by 2030, understanding what helps people live longer, healthier lives is more important than ever⁽¹⁾. 

Evidence indicates that older adults who maintain active social lives are less likely to experience serious illness, and more likely to live longer⁽²⁾. But how exactly does social engagement support better health?

How Social Activity Supports Healthy Aging

The health benefits of social interaction go beyond companionship. People who are socially active tend to exercise more, avoid harmful habits like smoking or excessive drinking, and report better moods and lower stress⁽³⁾. These behaviors directly influence physical health, reducing the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and depression.

But the effects may run deeper. Scientists now believe that strong social ties can influence the body on a biological level. For example, regular interaction with others may reduce chronic stress, which is known to damage the cardiovascular system and weaken immune defenses. Social connections also help keep the mind stimulated, which is important for cognitive health as we age.

The Role of “Biological Age”

Traditionally, we measure age by counting years. But in aging research, a more meaningful measure may be biological age, which is an estimate of how well the body is functioning based on health indicators like inflammation, blood pressure, and metabolic health. Two people may be the same chronological age, but one may be aging biologically faster due to lifestyle, stress, or disease.

This study found that older adults who were more socially engaged tended to have slower biological aging⁽⁴⁾. 

In other words, their bodies functioned more like those of younger individuals. This suggests that staying connected with others doesn’t just feel good—it may actually slow down the physical processes associated with aging.

Staying Social May Help You Live Longer? 

This research analyzed data from a large, long-term national study of older adults. It was discovered that people who regularly took part in social activities like volunteering, spending time with grandchildren, or participating in clubs or group sports had a significantly lower risk of dying over the next four years⁽⁴⁾.

Importantly, these benefits remained even after accounting for other factors like income, education, age, and existing health conditions. While physical activity and mental well-being partly explained the link between social engagement and lower mortality, they didn’t account for all of it, suggesting other mechanisms may also be at play.

Despite these promising findings, the average level of social engagement across the study population was surprisingly low. On a simple 0–2 scale, most participants scored below 1. This points to a significant opportunity for improvement in public health efforts aimed at older adults.

How Social Connections Influence the Body and Brain

The health effects of social interaction likely come from a combination of psychological, behavioral, and biological factors⁽⁵⁾:

• Emotionally, being part of a community provides a sense of purpose and reduces feelings of loneliness, which are linked to increased risk of disease and death.
• Behaviorally, social networks can influence habits. For example, encouraging healthy eating, discouraging smoking, or motivating someone to seek medical help when needed.
• Biologically, social interaction may help regulate the body's stress systems, including the immune, hormonal, and cardiovascular systems. Chronic loneliness and isolation, by contrast, have been shown to trigger harmful stress responses, even in otherwise healthy people.

This mix of influences may explain why socially connected individuals often experience fewer illnesses and recover more quickly when they do get sick.

What We Still Don’t Know

While the evidence connecting social engagement to better health is strong, important questions remain. For instance, the measure of biological age used in this study was only available at one point in time, and it’s likely to change as people’s health and circumstances change. Because this was an observational study, it also can’t prove that social activity caused longer life, it's possible that healthier people are simply more able to stay socially active.

Additionally, the study’s participants were mostly White and more highly educated than the general population, which may limit how broadly the findings apply. And while the study adjusted for many potential confounding factors, including chronic illness and income, it’s still possible that some unmeasured variables influenced the results.

Finally, researchers were not able to assess the role of diet, which may also link social life and health, for example, people who eat with others may have better nutrition.

What Does This Mean for Healthy Aging?

Despite these limitations, the findings support a growing body of research showing that staying socially engaged is more than a quality-of-life issue, it may be a key part of healthy aging.

While further studies are needed, especially ones that test interventions over time, the message is clear: fostering meaningful social connections may be one of the most underappreciated tools we have for extending both lifespan and healthspan.

Encouraging older adults to volunteer, join clubs, attend community events, or simply stay in regular contact with family and friends could be as important as promoting exercise and balanced diets.

While there may be times in your life you need to isolate yourself like a monk to transform yourself, it's important to understand that we are social creatures who thrive on human connection, not just healthy habits. 

Want to create connection and train at the same time?

Make friends at the gym where you train or seek out group fitness that aligns with your goals. No matter your age or fitness level, in today's fitness landscape you can find nearly every training style in a group environment. You just need to be willing to step outside your comfort zone and try something new! 

And for the days you just want to get in the gym and hammer out a workout without being bothered, there's this.

References: 
    1.    Noren Hooten N, Pacheco NL, Smith JT, et al: The accelerated aging phenotype: The role of race and social determinants of health on aging. Ageing Res Rev 73:101536, 2022
    2.    Gao Q, Bone JK, Bu F, et al: Associations of Social, Cultural, and Community Engagement With Health Care Utilization in the US Health and Retirement Study. JAMA Netw Open 6:e236636, 2023
    3.    Stokes AC, Xie W, Lundberg DJ, et al: Loneliness, social isolation, and all-cause mortality in the United States. SSM Ment Health 1, 2021
    4.    Abugroun A, Shah SJ, Covinsky K, et al: Low Social Engagement and Risk of Death in Older Adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society n/a
    5.    Kiely DK, Flacker JM: The protective effect of social engagement on 1-year mortality in a long-stay nursing home population. J Clin Epidemiol 56:472-8, 2003