Socially Active Seniors Age Slower And Live Longer

Maintaining an active social life after age 60 helps people live longer and better. A large study in the United States showed that older adults who participate in social activities, volunteer work, or spend more time with others have a lower risk of death within four years. This is because they tend to be more physically active and because their bodies age more slowly.

As the US population approaches 2030, nearly one in five will be 65 or older. Therefore, understanding what helps people live longer and healthier lives has become an urgent issue.

Research shows that having good health habits and maintaining social connections, such as participating in community activities, sports, arts, or volunteering, can make a difference in quality of life. These social contacts not only bring direct benefits, such as less illness and greater well-being, but also affect health through various pathways: emotional, biological, behavioral, and even economic.

We know a lot about the negative effects of isolation, when people are alone and disconnected. This is associated with worse health and a higher risk of death. But we still don't fully understand how, positively, participating in social activities helps prolong life.

There are several theories: one suggests that social interaction helps keep the body and mind functioning; another suggests that social networks offer useful health resources; and there's even the idea that social ties reduce the impact of stress on the body. However, scientific evidence on how exactly these mechanisms work is still limited.

People who are more socially active tend to have healthier habits, such as exercising more and consuming less alcohol and tobacco. Furthermore, interacting with others improves mood, reduces stress, and stimulates the brain. Strong social relationships can also influence biological processes that slow the aging process.

Today, scientists look not only at age in years, but also at so-called "biological age," which measures the wear and tear on the body over a lifetime. This type of measurement can better predict the risk of death than chronological age alone.

In this study, researchers wanted to discover whether being socially engaged helps people live longer, and how. To do so, they used data from a large national survey of people aged 60 and older, called the Health and Retirement Study.

In 2016, these participants answered questionnaires about lifestyle, health habits, and social activities, in addition to providing blood samples for biological analysis. Social engagement was measured using nine questions about frequency of social activities, and participants were classified into low, medium, or high engagement groups.

The scientists calculated each person's biological age and compared it with their chronological age, the number of years they had lived. They also followed the participants for four years to determine who had a higher risk of dying during that period.

Based on this data, they evaluated which factors could explain the relationship between an active social life and lower mortality. Among the factors considered were: physical activity, symptoms of depression, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol consumption.

A total of 2,268 people participated in the analysis. The results showed that those with greater social engagement had a lower risk of dying within four years, in addition to showing signs of a younger biological age compared to their chronological age.

These people also had healthier lifestyles and fewer symptoms of depression. Statistical analysis showed that part of this effect was explained by the fact that more sociable people engaged in more physical activity (16% of the effect) and age biologically more slowly (15% of the effect). Alcohol consumption, tobacco consumption, and depressive symptoms, however, did not significantly explain this relationship.

In summary, this study indicates that maintaining an active social life after age 60 is associated with a lower risk of death, and this can be explained, in part, by the fact that engaged people take better care of their physical health and their bodies age more slowly.

This type of finding is important for guiding public policies and health strategies that encourage older adults to participate more in social activities, just as there are already campaigns to encourage exercise and healthy eating.

READ MORE:

Low Social Engagement and Risk of Death in Older Adults

Ashraf Abugroun, Sachin J. Shah, Kenneth Covinsky, Colin Hubbard, John C. Newman, and Margaret C. Fang

Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Volume 73, Issue 7, July 2025, Pages 2166-2175DOI: 10.1111/jgs.19511

Abstract: 

Social engagement contributes to healthy aging, yet the mechanisms linking social engagement to mortality risk remain poorly understood. This study investigated the biological, behavioral, and psychological pathways mediating this relationship. We conducted a prospective cohort study using Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data on participants aged 60 and older who completed the Psychosocial and Lifestyle Questionnaires and provided blood samples in 2016. Social engagement was assessed using nine items from the HRS Social Participation questionnaire, with responses categorized as low, moderate, or high. Biological age was calculated using the Klemera–Doubal method and compared to chronological age to identify decelerated aging. We explored mediating pathways between social engagement and 4-year mortality risk using counterfactual mediation analyses. In total, 2268 participants were included. Higher social engagement was associated with lower all-cause mortality rates over 4 years of follow-up. The high social engagement group participants had a lower median biological age, healthier behaviors, and lower prevalence of depressive symptoms than those in the low and moderate engagement groups. High social engagement was associated with lower mortality risk than low engagement (a-HR: 0.58 [95% CI: 0.39, 0.86; p = 0.009]). This effect was partially mediated by regular physical activity (16%) and decelerated biological age (15%). Other factors such as high depressive symptoms, excess alcohol use, and tobacco use showed no significant mediating effects. Higher social engagement in older adults is associated with reduced mortality risk possibly due to decreased biological aging and increased physical activity levels.