Love socializing, live longer? Study finds living in a group may help you live longer than being alone

When a generation of "summer insects" has not yet understood what winter is, bowhead whales can live for more than 200 years in the extremely cold waters of the Arctic. The length of life varies greatly among species, but it does not mean that the length of life depends on body size. The palm-sized Brandt's bat has a maximum lifespan of 41 years, which is comparable to the 40-year lifespan of a brown bear. So, what factors affect the length of life?

A recent study published in the internationally renowned academic journal Nature Communications points out that for mammals, life span is closely related to the social organization they live in. The study analyzed the life span of about 1,000 mammals, from African anteaters to zebras, and their social organizations, and ultimately found an amazing fact: social mammals such as ring-tailed lemurs and elephants live longer than solitary animals such as chipmunks and tigers.

The study stems from an unexpected discovery by a team from the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. When they were studying the aging of long-lived mammals, naked mole rats, a peculiar species from Africa, caught their attention. This small mammal with buck teeth and wrinkled skin can live up to 31 years old, even longer than much larger mammals such as wolves and eland.

In addition to longevity, naked mole rats have a unique attribute: their social structure is the most complex of any mammal. In a naked mole rat colony, queens and workers live together in underground burrows, and their social structure is similar to that of bees, with highly organized characteristics. At the same time, several other social mammals, especially primates, also have similar situations to naked mole rats.

To further confirm whether there is a broader connection between social interaction and life span, the research team divided these mammals into three groups: solitary living, pair living, and group living, based on their different lifestyles. They used comparative analysis methods to study the data in each group, and the results almost completely confirmed the initial hypothesis.

Although the specific evolutionary mechanism between life span and socialization is not yet clear, this research still gives us a glimpse of the future: humans living in the present might as well open their hearts more to meet more people and take a more profound step forward in their lives.

(Li Dongchen is a 2021 5+3 integrated clinical medicine student at Dalian Medical University, and his supervisor Li Chan is a PhD student at the Department of Human Anatomy at Dalian Medical University)