Breakthroughs

To live longer, spend less time alone

Good news: To live longer, you just need to spend more time with other people. What's the catch? To do it, you'll have to buck the trend. A new study shows that not only are we becoming more socially isolated, but that this also raises our risk of dying early by 32% which is as much as obesity, substance abuse, or a lack of health care. (The authors' past research indicated that living alone can be just as deadly as smoking 15 cigs a day, or being an alcoholic.) The study goes on to predict that by 2030, there will be a health-impairing loneliness epidemic among people under 65 (read: You). "All developed countries show increased trends for living alone. The highest in recorded history", says study co-author Tim Smith, PhD. Though it's not clear exactly why socially isolated folks are less healthy, Smith speculates they may have poorer self-care, no family to push them to seek treatment, and a lower passion for life. So if you plan to stick around for a while, limit your endless "social" networking (which can actually be pretty unsocial), go out instead of eating or staying in, and keep forging real-life friendships. Other humans need you, and you need them. -ADAM BIBLE

Rice goes down!