Friends don’t let friends… get wrinkly???
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Friendships are one of life’s joys, but could they also slow aging?
Dr. Anthony Ong and team at Cornell studied over two thousand middle-aged adults to find out.
They compared bloodwork to biological clocks – algorithms that calculate age and rate of aging in cells. Researchers also measured for inflammatory molecules that play a role in aging. And of course, they took surveys on participants’ social lives.
Results? Those who reported friendships that span years or even decades showed SLOWER biological aging. They also had lower levels of inflammatory molecules.
Huh. Maybe the real anti-aging serum was the friends we made along the way.
Reference: Ong, A. D., Mann, F. D., & Kubzansky, L. D. (2025). Cumulative social advantage is associated with slower epigenetic aging and lower systemic inflammation. Brain, Behavior, & Immunity – Health, 48, 101096. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2025.101096