Friendships a Boon for Women's Health

Women who sleep well and have good friends have low blood levels of a rather nasty molecule called interleukin-6, a new study finds.

That's important because elevated levels of IL-6 have been linked to diseases ranging from Alzheimer's disease to rheumatoid arthritis to cancer, said study author Elliot M. Friedman, a University of Wisconsin psychologist.

It's been known that poor sleep quality is associated with higher levels of IL-6, which in turn are associated with higher death rates, said Friedman, a Robert Wood Johnson health & society scholar.

"But the idea that good social relationships can compensate for poor sleep is new," he said.

The findings appear in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Friedman isn't dispensing advice based on the finding because the study was rather small. It included 74 women, aged 61 to 90, who filled out questionnaires about their social engagements, wore equipment that monitored their sleep at home, and gave blood samples for IL-6 testing.

"It's an intriguing result," he said. "Now we need to expand it to men, and more women as well."

Friedman said he's been studying "what kind of psychological processes seem to be able to influence biological markers that are linked to disease." But while studies by other researchers have looked at negative indicators, such as stress or depression, he has been looking at positive indicators.

The new study was designed to test "a specific hypothesis, why good quality social relationships are beneficial," Friedman said. "It's possible that they help people sleep better. People who are lonely don't sleep as well. And if they don't sleep well, they have higher levels of IL-6 in the blood."

As it turned out, the study showed that "both sleeping well and having good quality social relationships predict lower levels of IL-6," Friedman said. "Either one or the other is beneficial. Only in women who have neither do we see higher levels of IL-6."

While the study indicated that "it's nice to have friends and it's important to sleep well," Friedman said he's "circumspect about jumping to conclusions."

"What is it about social relationships that affect biology?" he said. "Once we get a handle on that, the practical applications can become more clear."

What is clear is that it never hurts to have friends, Friedman said.

"It has been known for many years that being socially isolated predicts early mortality," he said. "What we see is, not just being lonely but improving the quality of friendships can improve biological factors as well."

The study was welcomed by Dr. Alexandros N. Vgontzas, a professor of psychiatry and a sleep researcher at the Penn State College of Medicine, in part because it confirms his previous research linking sleep with IL-6 levels. "To see this thing being confirmed shows that it is real," he said.

But the study also adds "important new information" about social interactions and sleep, Vgontzas noted. "It indicates that these two things, psychological well-being and sleep, go hand in hand," he said.

More information

For more on women and health benefits of friendships, visit Oregon State University.

Baby Girls Often Misdiagnosed with Movement Disorder

December 5, 2005 08:41:24 PM PST

In most cases, the girls are engaging in infantile masturbation -- a common and harmless practice, the researchers say.

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center's Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong studied dozens of cases of young girls who were referred to pediatric movement disorder clinics between 1997 and 2002 for evaluation of "paroxysmal dystonic posturing." The disorder is characterized by involuntary muscle contractions that result in abnormal movements and positions.

Many of the girls underwent invasive testing and were put on medication before neurologists determined that their movements were normal muscle contractions that accompany infantile masturbation.

"Masturbation is a normal human behavior. It's not harmful to anybody," study author Dr. Jonathon W. Mink, chief of child neurology at the center, said in a prepared statement.

"But these children have had invasive procedures and have been treated with medication because their doctors either hadn't witnessed the movements or didn't recognize the behavior," Mink said.

He recommended that doctors ask parents to videotape any suspected episodes of paroxysmal dystonic posturing. Viewing the tapes may help doctors avoid performing unnecessary invasive and expensive tests on children.

More information

The University of Iowa has more about toddlers and sexual behavior.