Being Closer With Family Leads To A Longer Life

The other day I heard something that said a third of your friends don’t really like you.  Good news, you don’t need them.

According to Huffington Post, there’s a study from Toronto that suggests the key to living a long life isn’t having a bunch of friends.. It’s actually being close to your family.

James Iveniuk is the lead author of the study and explained

“We found that older individuals who had more family in their network, as well as older people who were closer with their family, were less likely to die.” He added, “No such associations were observed for number of or closeness to friends.”

They tend to believe it’s because when you make friends, you tend to find people who fit your specific needs, which can lead to people not challenging you on your negative parts as much.  Family who you can’t choose, usually know all about you, both the good and the bad and can help you live a more fulfilled life.

Not only were family members being confidants key to a longer life, but also having a larger social network (not Facebook, but people who you actually go do things with) as well as being involved in other social organizations such as volunteer work and being married.  As for the married part of the study, they found that even if you’re in a bad marriage, you tend to live longer than those who aren’t married at all.