SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Connections with other people affect not only the quality of our lives but also our survival, according to U.S. heart researcher Dr. Dean Ornish.
"Study after study find that people who feel lonely are many times more likely to get cardiovascular disease than those who have a strong sense of connection and community," Ornish wrote in Newsweek. "I'm not aware of any other factor in medicine -- not diet, not smoking, not exercise, not genetics, not drugs, not surgery -- that has a greater impact on our quality of life, incidence of illness and premature death."
Humans are hard-wired to help each other and science is documenting the healing values of love, intimacy, community, compassion, forgiveness, altruism and service -- values that are part of almost all spiritual traditions as well as many secular ones, says Ornish.
"Seen in this context, being unselfish may be the most self-serving approach to life, for it helps free both the giver and recipient from suffering, disease and premature death," he says.
