Saturday, March 21, 2015

The Village Effect by Susan Pinker review – the science of friendship

Being sociable can lengthen your life – but Pinker risks turning what should be a pleasure into a self-improvement chore

A few weeks ago I gave the eulogy at my father’s funeral. As I spoke to the gathered mourners, I was struck by the fact that there was not a spare seat in the packed crematorium hall. He had five children and 11 grandchildren, but still: where had all these people come from? Who were they? How did they know him?

My father was approaching his 88th birthday when he died. He had lived alone as a widower for 13 years, and he had done so having survived his own emergency operation the day after my mother died, which left him in a coma for weeks, followed by months of rehabilitation.

Related: Dancing, Sudoku, fish and fruit – the keys to a mentally alert old age

People with active social lives have higher cancer survival rates than people who are isolated

Related: The island of long life

Continue reading...

No comments:

Post a Comment