If you want to live a long life, it pays to have friends
--- lots of them.

Researchers at the University Medical Center of Chicago
tracked the lives of 1,500 subjects for more than 10 years.
The participants were all age 70 and older.

They found that the most interactive and social subjects --
those who had 5 or more close friends and talked with them
often -- were 22% less likely to die than those who had no
close friends and few social contacts.

The study, published in the "Journal of Epidemiology and
Community Health," suggests that friendship boosts life
spans in a number of ways.  Social intercourse helps keep
people mentally and physically sharp.  Friends provide a
support system.

A number of studies have shown that hanging out with
people provides actual physiological benefits:  it can
lower blood pressure, reduce cholesterol and stress
hormones and lessen feelings of anxiety.

Contrarily, the researchers found that spending time
with family members did not seem to lengthen life.
For many people, families are a source of stress.

... Computer addicts need 26 hours in a day, all 8 days of the week.