Friends and family are key to health

FOR over ten years my wife has been a participant in UK Biobank, a vast research project involving half a million people who provide genetic samples and other information to improve our understanding of disease.

Along with 100,000 others, she is about to undergo brain and body scans, detailed heart recordings, blood tests and other investigations.

The potential gains from this research are outstanding, but as I looked more into this I came across another more low-tech project that’s also had some compelling results.

The Grant study, launched in 1938 at Harvard Medical School, has monitored hundreds of men for more than 75 years (it’s still ongoing).

The aim was to determine the factors involved in healthy ageing. The launch of the study preceded the modern technology of the Biobank research, but the findings are valuable.

The essence is that happy marriages and fulfilling relationships (with family, teachers or peers) result in better health and longer lives. In other words, how we relate to others is key to good health.

It’s a lesson from which we could all benefit.