“Nothing’s More Important than Family”

This is one of my husband’s favorite movie lines. While I’m not sure Don Carleone actually said this in The Godfather, Michael likes to pretend he did because he always delivers it while impersonating Marlon Brando. With a deep, guttural, whisper of a voice Michael says, “Nothing’s more important than family.” For added emphasis he shakes his right hand and kisses the tops of his fingers. And then he throws in a couple of Godfather slaps to someone’s cheek and finishes the scene by repeating the sound “eh?” a few dozen times.

The newest member of my family.
Holden, born May 2 to my sister
Cathy and her husband Troy.

We get it honey. Family’s important.

Good social relationships are important, not only for your mental health, but your physical health as well.

A recent study by Brigham Young University (BYU) has demonstrated that strong social relationships will help you live longer. (Unless of course you’re an enemy of the Carleone family. Then your life expectancy is only until Saturday, before mass.)

The BYU study found that “people with stronger social relationships had a 50% increased likelihood of survival than those with weaker social relationships.”

The researchers went on to state that, “…the influence of social relationships on the risk of death are comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality such as smoking and alcohol consumption and exceed the influence of other risk factors such as physical inactivity and obesity.”

Weak social relationships are as risky to your health as smoking and alcohol consumption. Yikes!

I’m blessed to be surrounded by a wonderful extended family. But for those of you that have less than stellar relations with your family (it happens), strong friendships count toward a healthier life as well.

And you don’t need that many friends for it to affect your life in a positive way. A British study found that the magic number of friends to be happy was 10.

Dr Richard Tunney, of Nottingham University, quizzed more than 1,700 people about their satisfaction with their lives and the state of their friendships. Those with five friends or fewer had just a 40 percent chance of being happy. In other words, they were more likely to be unhappy than happy. When participants reached ten friends, they were more likely to be happy than unhappy.

Don’t worry. If you’re like me and the number of friends on your Facebook page is appallingly low, the study found that old friends are no more likely to make us happy than new friends. So it’s never too late to up these numbers!

I don’t need any research to tell me spending time with people I care about is healthy. I simply think about what I like to do most and it’s sharing a good meal and good wine with good friends.

With that we’re off this weekend to Cape Cod, MA. To get healthy by spending time with some old friends. I’m pretty sure there will be wine involved, so I’ll be sure and drink red. To really boost my health.

A Little Girl Time

Here's what happens when my sisters and I get together.

Tammi, me, Cathy

My mom and her girls. She can dress us up, but
she can't take us anywhere.

My sisters are not only tons of fun but they've been my best friends forever, so it's no surprise that I look forward to our annual tradition of celebrating my mom's birthday with a trip home to Georgia and a lot of girl time. 

My sisters and I ditch our husbands and kids, shack up at my mom's house, pour the wine, eat loads of bad food and watch movies all day and night. Our movie staples are romantic comedies and anything our husbands would hate, e.g., Jane Austen movies, musicals, and films with subtitles.

It's a glorious few days of talking, eating, drinking, more talking, usually some crying, and more talking. And of course we watch movies, sometimes simultaneously with all that other stuff. I always return home happy and rejuvenated. Well, that and a little dehydrated, maybe slightly hungover and kind of bloated, but hey, it's worth it.

Last week was my annual trip and as I drove home I thought, "Everyone should do this. It's fantastic!"

Taking time to visit friends or family IS fantastic and it turns out, it's also healthy for you.

A team from Brigham Young University analyzed data from 148 studies which covered over 300,000 people and discovered that strong social relationships are as beneficial to your health as quitting smoking, losing weight or taking certain medications.

Humans are social creatures. We’re designed to interact and spend time together and now researchers are proving that socializing not only feels good, but it’s good for you!

Of course the opposite is true too. According to Julianne Holt-Lunstad, the lead researcher and psychologist of the study, “A lack of social relationships was equivalent to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.”

That's particularly bad news since as a society we are becoming more and more isolated. With the internet, social networking sites and working from home, we're spending less face-to-face time with other adults. And that’s not healthy. Isolation is correlated with loneliness and a variety of mental health issues.

So next time you feel guilty about scheduling a coffee date with a friend or a girls/boys night out, don’t. Instead, raise your glass and toast to your health.