Having good friends appears to boost survival 有好朋友似乎可以提高存活率

Having a good network of friends and neighbours boosts survival chances by 50%, US researchers believe. The Brigham Young University team came to this figure by number-crunching data from nearly 150 studies looking at survival odds and social networks.

美國研究人員相信，有一大群好朋友與鄰居，可以讓存活率提高50%。楊百翰大學團隊透過近150份觀察生存機率與社會網絡的研究所得來的龐大數據，得出這個結論。

And they calculate that having few friends is as damaging to survival as smoking 15 cigarettes a day or being alcoholic, PLoS Medicine reports.They believe caring about others makes us take better care of ourselves.

「公共科學圖書館：醫學」期刊報導指出，研究人員推測，沒什麼朋友對活下去的傷害，就像每天抽15根菸或酗酒，他們認為，關心他人讓我們更照顧自己。

But they warn that in today’s modern world social networks are deteriorating as we struggle to juggle careers and families and find a happy work-life balance. Losing this social support, they say, cuts survival odds far more than being obese or not exercising.

但他們警告，在現代世界，社會網絡日漸變質，我們很難兼顧事業與家庭，還能在工作與生活中找到快樂的平衡。他們說，失去這樣的社會支援，存活機率的降低，會比過胖或是不運動還要嚴重。

Lead researcher Julianne Holt-Lundstad says there are many ways in which friends, colleagues and family can boost health and wellbeing. "When someone is connected to a group and feels responsibility for other people, that sense of purpose and meaning translates to taking better care of themselves and taking fewer risks."

領導研究者霍特路斯達說，朋友、同事與家人在很多方面能夠增進健康與幸福，「一個人與一個組織有關聯、覺得對其他人有責任的時候，那種目的與意義感，會轉化成較照顧自己、比較不會冒險」。