The secret to living longer may be your social life
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0:01 - 0:03Here's an intriguing fact.
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0:03 - 0:05In the developed world,
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0:05 - 0:10everywhere, women live an average
of six to eight years longer than men do. -
0:11 - 0:13Six to eight years longer.
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0:13 - 0:15That's, like, a huge gap.
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0:17 - 0:20In 2015, the "Lancet" published an article
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0:20 - 0:22showing that men in rich countries
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0:22 - 0:25are twice as likely to die as women are
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0:25 - 0:26at any age.
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0:27 - 0:30But there is one place in the world
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0:30 - 0:32where men live as long as women.
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0:32 - 0:35It's a remote, mountainous zone,
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0:35 - 0:36a blue zone,
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0:36 - 0:37where super longevity
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0:37 - 0:39is common to both sexes.
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0:40 - 0:42This is the blue zone in Sardinia,
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0:42 - 0:44an Italian island in the Mediterranean,
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0:44 - 0:47between Corsica and Tunisia,
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0:47 - 0:50where there are six times
as many centenarians -
0:50 - 0:52as on the Italian mainland,
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0:52 - 0:53less than 200 miles away.
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0:54 - 0:56There are 10 times as many centenarians
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0:56 - 0:58as there are in North America.
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0:58 - 1:01It's the only place
where men live as long as women. -
1:01 - 1:02But why?
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1:02 - 1:04My curiosity was piqued.
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1:05 - 1:08I decided to research the sights
and the habits of the place, -
1:08 - 1:10and I started with the genetic profile.
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1:11 - 1:13I discovered soon enough
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1:13 - 1:17that genes account for just
25 percent of their longevity. -
1:17 - 1:19The other 75 percent is lifestyle.
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1:20 - 1:23So what does it take
to live to 100 or beyond? -
1:24 - 1:25What are they doing right?
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1:25 - 1:29What you're looking at
is an aerial view of Villagrande. -
1:29 - 1:31It's a village at the epicenter
of the blue zone -
1:31 - 1:33where I went to investigate this,
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1:33 - 1:37and as you can see, architectural beauty
is not its main virtue, -
1:39 - 1:40density is:
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1:40 - 1:42tightly spaced houses,
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1:42 - 1:45interwoven alleys and streets.
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1:45 - 1:49It means that the villagers' lives
constantly intersect. -
1:49 - 1:51And as I walked through the village,
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1:51 - 1:54I could feel hundreds
of pairs of eyes watching me -
1:54 - 1:57from behind doorways and curtains,
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1:57 - 1:59from behind shutters.
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1:59 - 2:01Because like all ancient villages,
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2:01 - 2:04Villagrande couldn't have survived
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2:04 - 2:07without this structure,
without its walls, without its cathedral, -
2:07 - 2:09without its village square,
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2:09 - 2:13because defense and social cohesion
defined its design. -
2:14 - 2:18Urban priorities changed as we moved
towards the industrial revolution -
2:18 - 2:21because infectious disease
became the risk of the day. -
2:21 - 2:22But what about now?
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2:23 - 2:27Now, social isolation
is the public health risk of our time. -
2:28 - 2:30Now, a third of the population says
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2:30 - 2:33they have two or fewer people to lean on.
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2:34 - 2:37But let's go to Villagrande
now as a contrast -
2:37 - 2:39to meet some centenarians.
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2:39 - 2:43Meet Giuseppe Murinu.
He's 102, a supercentenarian -
2:43 - 2:46and a lifelong resident
of the village of Villagrande. -
2:46 - 2:48He was a gregarious man.
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2:48 - 2:50He loved to recount stories
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2:50 - 2:52such as how he lived like a bird
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2:52 - 2:54from what he could find
on the forest floor -
2:54 - 2:57during not one but two world wars,
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2:58 - 3:01how he and his wife,
who also lived past 100, -
3:01 - 3:04raised six children
in a small, homey kitchen -
3:04 - 3:05where I interviewed him.
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3:06 - 3:09Here he is with his sons
Angelo and Domenico, -
3:09 - 3:12both in their 70s
and looking after their father, -
3:12 - 3:16and who were quite frankly
very suspicious of me and my daughter -
3:16 - 3:19who came along with me
on this research trip, -
3:19 - 3:22because the flip side of social cohesion
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3:22 - 3:24is a wariness of strangers and outsiders.
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3:24 - 3:28But Giuseppe, he wasn't suspicious at all.
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3:28 - 3:30He was a happy-go-lucky guy,
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3:30 - 3:34very outgoing with a positive outlook.
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3:34 - 3:38And I wondered: so is that what it takes
to live to be 100 or beyond, -
3:39 - 3:40thinking positively?
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3:42 - 3:43Actually, no.
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3:43 - 3:48(Laughter)
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3:49 - 3:51Meet Giovanni Corrias. He's 101,
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3:51 - 3:54the grumpiest person I have ever met.
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3:55 - 3:56(Laughter)
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3:56 - 3:58And he put a lie to the notion
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3:58 - 4:00that you have to be positive
to live a long life. -
4:01 - 4:03And there is evidence for this.
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4:03 - 4:06When I asked him why he lived so long,
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4:06 - 4:09he kind of looked at me
under hooded eyelids and he growled, -
4:09 - 4:11"Nobody has to know my secrets."
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4:11 - 4:14(Laughter)
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4:14 - 4:16But despite being a sourpuss,
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4:16 - 4:18the niece who lived with him
and looked after him -
4:18 - 4:21called him "Il Tesoro," "my treasure."
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4:21 - 4:25And she respected him and loved him,
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4:25 - 4:28and she told me, when I questioned
this obvious loss of her freedom, -
4:29 - 4:31"You just don't understand, do you?
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4:31 - 4:34Looking after this man is a pleasure.
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4:34 - 4:36It's a huge privilege for me.
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4:36 - 4:37This is my heritage."
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4:38 - 4:42And indeed, wherever I went
to interview these centenarians, -
4:42 - 4:43I found a kitchen party.
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4:43 - 4:45Here's Giovanni with his two nieces,
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4:45 - 4:46Maria above him
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4:46 - 4:48and beside him his great-niece Sara,
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4:48 - 4:52who came when I was there
to bring fresh fruits and vegetables. -
4:52 - 4:55And I quickly discovered by being there
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4:56 - 4:58that in the blue zone, as people age,
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4:58 - 5:00and indeed across their lifespans,
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5:00 - 5:04they're always surrounded
by extended family, by friends, -
5:04 - 5:08by neighbors, the priest,
the barkeeper, the grocer. -
5:08 - 5:10People are always there or dropping by.
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5:10 - 5:13They are never left
to live solitary lives. -
5:14 - 5:16This is unlike the rest
of the developed world, -
5:16 - 5:18where as George Burns quipped,
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5:18 - 5:22"Happiness is having a large,
loving, caring family in another city." -
5:22 - 5:24(Laughter)
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5:24 - 5:27Now, so far we've only met men,
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5:27 - 5:30long-living men, but I met women too,
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5:30 - 5:31and here you see Zia Teresa.
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5:32 - 5:36She, at over 100, taught me
how to make the local specialty, -
5:36 - 5:38which is called culurgiones,
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5:38 - 5:41which are these large pasta pockets
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5:41 - 5:43like ravioli about this size,
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5:43 - 5:45this size,
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5:45 - 5:47and they're filled
with high-fat ricotta and mint -
5:47 - 5:49and drenched in tomato sauce.
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5:49 - 5:52And she showed me
how to make just the right crimp -
5:53 - 5:55so they wouldn't open,
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5:55 - 5:58and she makes them
with her daughters every Sunday -
5:58 - 6:01and distributes them
by the dozens to neighbors and friends. -
6:02 - 6:05And that's when I discovered
a low-fat, gluten-free diet -
6:05 - 6:07is not what it takes
to live to 100 in the blue zone. -
6:07 - 6:11(Applause)
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6:11 - 6:15Now, these centenarians' stories
along with the science that underpins them -
6:15 - 6:18prompted me to ask myself
some questions too, -
6:18 - 6:22such as, when am I going to die
and how can I put that day off? -
6:22 - 6:26And as you will see,
the answer is not what we expect. -
6:27 - 6:31Julianne Holt-Lunstad is a researcher
at Brigham Young University -
6:31 - 6:33and she addressed this very question
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6:33 - 6:34in a series of studies
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6:34 - 6:37of tens of thousands of middle aged people
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6:37 - 6:39much like this audience here.
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6:39 - 6:42And she looked at every
aspect of their lifestyle: -
6:42 - 6:44their diet, their exercise,
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6:44 - 6:46their marital status,
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6:46 - 6:48how often they went to the doctor,
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6:48 - 6:50whether they smoked or drank, etc.
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6:50 - 6:52She recorded all of this
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6:52 - 6:57and then she and her colleagues
sat tight and waited for seven years -
6:57 - 6:59to see who would still be breathing.
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7:00 - 7:02And of the people left standing,
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7:03 - 7:06what reduced their chances
of dying the most? -
7:06 - 7:08That was her question.
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7:08 - 7:12So let's now look at her data in summary,
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7:12 - 7:16going from the least powerful
predictor to the strongest. -
7:16 - 7:18OK?
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7:18 - 7:20So clean air, which is great,
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7:20 - 7:22it doesn't predict how long you will live.
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7:23 - 7:26Whether you have your hypertension treated
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7:26 - 7:27is good.
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7:27 - 7:29Still not a strong predictor.
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7:29 - 7:32Whether you're lean or overweight,
you can stop feeling guilty about this, -
7:32 - 7:35because it's only in third place.
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7:35 - 7:37How much exercise you get is next,
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7:37 - 7:40still only a moderate predictor.
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7:40 - 7:44Whether you've had a cardiac event
and you're in rehab and exercising, -
7:44 - 7:46getting higher now.
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7:46 - 7:48Whether you've had a flu vaccine.
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7:48 - 7:49Did anybody here know
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7:49 - 7:53that having a flu vaccine
protects you more than doing exercise? -
7:55 - 7:57Whether you were drinking and quit,
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7:57 - 7:59or whether you're a moderate drinker,
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7:59 - 8:03whether you don't smoke,
or if you did, whether you quit, -
8:04 - 8:07and getting towards the top predictors
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8:07 - 8:11are two features of your social life.
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8:11 - 8:13First, your close relationships.
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8:13 - 8:17These are the people
that you can call on for a loan -
8:17 - 8:20if you need money suddenly,
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8:20 - 8:23who will call the doctor
if you're not feeling well -
8:23 - 8:25or who will take you to the hospital,
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8:25 - 8:29or who will sit with you
if you're having an existential crisis, -
8:29 - 8:31if you're in despair.
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8:31 - 8:34Those people, that little clutch of people
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8:34 - 8:38are a strong predictor, if you have them,
of how long you'll live. -
8:38 - 8:40And then something that surprised me,
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8:40 - 8:43something that's called
social integration. -
8:43 - 8:47This means how much
you interact with people -
8:47 - 8:48as you move through your day.
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8:49 - 8:51How many people do you talk to?
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8:51 - 8:54And these mean both
your weak and your strong bonds, -
8:54 - 8:57so not just the people
you're really close to, -
8:57 - 8:58who mean a lot to you,
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8:58 - 9:03but, like, do you talk to the guy
who every day makes you your coffee? -
9:03 - 9:05Do you talk to the postman?
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9:05 - 9:08Do you talk to the woman who walks
by your house every day with her dog? -
9:08 - 9:11Do you play bridge or poker,
have a book club? -
9:11 - 9:14Those interactions
are one of the strongest predictors -
9:14 - 9:16of how long you'll live.
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9:16 - 9:18Now, this leads me to the next question:
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9:19 - 9:24if we now spend more time online
than on any other activity, -
9:24 - 9:26including sleeping,
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9:26 - 9:28we're now up to 11 hours a day,
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9:28 - 9:31one hour more than last year, by the way,
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9:31 - 9:32does it make a difference?
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9:33 - 9:37Why distinguish
between interacting in person -
9:37 - 9:39and interacting via social media?
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9:39 - 9:42Is it the same thing as being there
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9:42 - 9:45if you're in contact constantly
with your kids through text, for example? -
9:46 - 9:48Well, the short answer
to the question is no, -
9:48 - 9:50it's not the same thing.
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9:50 - 9:55Face-to-face contact releases
a whole cascade of neurotransmitters, -
9:55 - 9:58and like a vaccine,
they protect you now in the present -
9:58 - 10:00and well into the future.
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10:00 - 10:03So simply making
eye contact with somebody, -
10:04 - 10:06shaking hands, giving somebody a high-five
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10:06 - 10:08is enough to release oxytocin,
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10:08 - 10:10which increases your level of trust
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10:11 - 10:12and it lowers your cortisol levels.
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10:13 - 10:15So it lowers your stress.
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10:15 - 10:18And dopamine is generated,
which gives us a little high -
10:18 - 10:19and it kills pain.
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10:20 - 10:22It's like a naturally produced morphine.
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10:23 - 10:26Now, all of this passes
under our conscious radar, -
10:26 - 10:30which is why we conflate
online activity with the real thing. -
10:30 - 10:33But we do have evidence now,
fresh evidence, -
10:33 - 10:34that there is a difference.
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10:34 - 10:36So let's look at some of the neuroscience.
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10:36 - 10:39Elizabeth Redcay, a neuroscientist
at the University of Maryland, -
10:39 - 10:41tried to map the difference
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10:41 - 10:45between what goes on in our brains
when we interact in person -
10:45 - 10:48versus when we're watching
something that's static. -
10:48 - 10:51And what she did was
she compared the brain function -
10:51 - 10:53of two groups of people,
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10:53 - 10:56those interacting live with her
-
10:56 - 10:58or with one of her research associates
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10:58 - 11:00in a dynamic conversation,
-
11:00 - 11:03and she compared that
to the brain activity of people -
11:03 - 11:07who were watching her talk
about the same subject -
11:07 - 11:09but in a canned video, like on YouTube.
-
11:10 - 11:12And by the way, if you want to know
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11:12 - 11:14how she fit two people
in an MRI scanner at the same time, -
11:14 - 11:16talk to me later.
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11:16 - 11:19So what's the difference?
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11:19 - 11:22This is your brain
on real social interaction. -
11:23 - 11:26What you're seeing
is the difference in brain activity -
11:26 - 11:31between interacting in person
and taking in static content. -
11:31 - 11:36In orange, you see the brain areas
that are associated with attention, -
11:36 - 11:37social intelligence --
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11:37 - 11:40that means anticipating
what somebody else is thinking -
11:40 - 11:41and feeling and planning --
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11:42 - 11:43and emotional reward.
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11:43 - 11:46And these areas become much more engaged
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11:46 - 11:48when we're interacting
with a live partner. -
11:50 - 11:53Now, these richer brain signatures
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11:53 - 11:57might be why recruiters
from Fortune 500 companies -
11:57 - 11:59evaluating candidates
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11:59 - 12:02thought that the candidates were smarter
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12:02 - 12:03when they heard their voices
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12:04 - 12:07compared to when they just
read their pitches in a text, for example, -
12:07 - 12:09or an email or a letter.
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12:09 - 12:12Now, our voices and body language
convey a rich signal. -
12:12 - 12:14It shows that we're thinking, feeling,
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12:14 - 12:15sentient human beings
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12:15 - 12:18who are much more than an algorithm.
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12:18 - 12:20Now, this research by Nicholas Epley
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12:20 - 12:23at the University of Chicago
Business School -
12:24 - 12:27is quite amazing because
it tells us a simple thing. -
12:28 - 12:30If somebody hears your voice,
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12:30 - 12:31they think you're smarter.
-
12:32 - 12:34I mean, that's quite a simple thing.
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12:35 - 12:37Now, to return to the beginning,
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12:38 - 12:40why do women live longer than men?
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12:40 - 12:42And one major reason
is that women are more likely -
12:42 - 12:46to prioritize and groom
their face-to-face relationships -
12:46 - 12:47over their lifespans.
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12:47 - 12:49Fresh evidence shows
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12:49 - 12:51that these in-person friendships
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12:51 - 12:55create a biological force field
against disease and decline. -
12:55 - 12:57And it's not just true of humans
-
12:57 - 13:00but their primate relations,
our primate relations as well. -
13:00 - 13:04Anthropologist Joan Silk's work
shows that female baboons -
13:04 - 13:07who have a core of female friends
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13:07 - 13:11show lower levels of stress
via their cortisol levels, -
13:11 - 13:14they live longer and they have
more surviving offspring. -
13:15 - 13:17At least three stable relationships.
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13:17 - 13:19That was the magic number.
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13:19 - 13:20Think about it.
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13:20 - 13:21I hope you guys have three.
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13:22 - 13:26The power of such face-to-face contact
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13:26 - 13:29is really why there are
the lowest rates of dementia -
13:29 - 13:32among people who are socially engaged.
-
13:32 - 13:34It's why women who have breast cancer
-
13:34 - 13:39are four times more likely
to survive their disease than loners are. -
13:39 - 13:43Why men who've had a stroke
who meet regularly to play poker -
13:43 - 13:45or to have coffee
-
13:45 - 13:47or to play old-timer's hockey --
-
13:47 - 13:49I'm Canadian, after all --
-
13:49 - 13:50(Laughter)
-
13:50 - 13:52are better protected
by that social contact -
13:52 - 13:54than they are by medication.
-
13:54 - 13:57Why men who've had a stroke
who meet regularly -- -
13:57 - 14:00this is something very
powerful they can do. -
14:00 - 14:04This face-to-face contact
provides stunning benefits, -
14:04 - 14:08yet now almost a quarter of the population
says they have no one to talk to. -
14:09 - 14:11We can do something about this.
-
14:12 - 14:13Like Sardinian villagers,
-
14:13 - 14:17it's a biological imperative
to know we belong, -
14:17 - 14:19and not just the women among us.
-
14:19 - 14:23Building in-person interaction
into our cities, into our workplaces, -
14:23 - 14:25into our agendas
-
14:26 - 14:27bolsters the immune system,
-
14:27 - 14:31sends feel-good hormones
surging through the bloodstream and brain -
14:31 - 14:33and helps us live longer.
-
14:34 - 14:36I call this building your village,
-
14:37 - 14:40and building it and sustaining it
is a matter of life and death. -
14:41 - 14:42Thank you.
-
14:42 - 14:46(Applause)
-
14:48 - 14:51Moderator: Susan, come back.
I have a question for you. -
14:51 - 14:53I'm wondering if there's a middle path.
-
14:53 - 14:56So you talk about the neurotransmitters
connecting when in face-to-face, -
14:56 - 14:58but what about digital technology?
-
14:58 - 15:01We've seen enormous improvements
in digital technology -
15:01 - 15:03like FaceTime, things like that.
-
15:03 - 15:04Does that work too?
-
15:04 - 15:06I mean, I see my nephew.
-
15:06 - 15:08He plays Minecraft
and he's yelling at his friends. -
15:08 - 15:10It seems like he's connecting pretty well.
-
15:10 - 15:12Is that useful? Is that helpful?
-
15:12 - 15:14Susan Pinker: Some of the data
are just emerging. -
15:14 - 15:17The data are so fresh
that the digital revolution happened -
15:17 - 15:20and the health data trailed behind.
-
15:20 - 15:21So we're just learning,
-
15:21 - 15:23but I would say
there are some improvements -
15:23 - 15:25that we could make in the technology.
-
15:25 - 15:29For example, the camera on your laptop
is at the top of the screen, -
15:29 - 15:32so for example, when you're
looking into the screen, -
15:32 - 15:34you're not actually making eye contact.
-
15:34 - 15:37So something as simple
as even just looking into the camera -
15:37 - 15:39can increase those neurotransmitters,
-
15:39 - 15:42or maybe changing
the position of the camera. -
15:42 - 15:46So it's not identical, but I think
we are getting closer with the technology. -
15:46 - 15:47Moderator: Great. Thank you so much.
-
15:47 - 15:49SP: Thank you.
-
15:49 - 15:50(Applause)
- Title:
- The secret to living longer may be your social life
- Speaker:
- Susan Pinker
- Description:
-
The Italian island of Sardinia has more than six times as many centenarians as the mainland and ten times as many as North America. Why? According to longevity researcher Susan Pinker, it's not a sunny disposition or a low-fat, gluten-free diet that keeps the islanders alive so long -- it's their emphasis on close personal relationships and face-to-face interactions. Learn more about super longevity as Pinker explains what it takes to live to 100 and beyond.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 16:02
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The secret to living longer may be your social life | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The secret to living longer may be your social life | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The secret to living longer may be your social life | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The secret to living longer may be your social life | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The secret to living longer may be your social life | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The secret to living longer may be your social life | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for The secret to living longer may be your social life | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The secret to living longer may be your social life |