It's often the case that life's simle things - a home-cooked meal, the feeling of release that comes with stretching into a Down Dog after a day at the computer, the scent of a rose in high summer - are the most memorable.
Now there's evidence that friendship and old-fashioned human connection doesn't only enhance life: it prolongs it.
A fascinating new study (that tracked the social interactions and health of almost 309,000 people over 7 years) has found that a strong social circle massively boosts wellbeing and longevity.
According to research, people have a 50% better survival rate if they are part of a wider social group - be it friends, neighbours, or relatives (or all three).
Astonishingly, being lonely was found to be as bad for a person's health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, or being an alcoholic. It can be as harmful as not exercising and twice as bad for the health as being obese.
Yet while messages from the government, peers and health professionals about the danger of smoking and drinking too much have never been clearer, the subject of loneliness and isolation is little mentioned.
Perhaps loneliness is one of western society's last taboos? Certainly, social networks seem to be far stronger in some developing world community.
I will always remember being amazed, when I first visited India at the tender age of 19, at the how cheerful and connected people seemed, despite (or because of?) overwhelming poverty.
Mobile phones and the internet have made it far easier than ever before to chat to others on a superficial level.
But ultimately there's no substitute for real life friendship, and the love and support of other human beings.
Lucia Cockcroft, editor
.jpg "Baddha Konasana - Bound Angle Pose")
