Received many friend requests on Facebook? Accept them and live longer

Having many friends on a social network is good for your health. New research shows that online social contacts may have a positive impact on your life.

An active social life is good for your health, so if you receive a lot of friend requests on Facebook and accept them, you will live longer, Joinfo.com reports.

A study conducted by the University of California, Berkeley showed a positive impact on health and longevity of people who receive and accept many friend requests. Unfortunately, the researchers did not find the same effects among those who have sent many friend requests.

Besides, the type of your posts on Facebook also say something about your chances to live longer. For example, the researchers found a correlation between the placement of pictures and other “evidence” of offline social life and decreased mortality. This does not apply for sending online messages through, for example, Facebook Messenger.

For the study, the scientists used public health data of 12 million Facebook users provided by the California Department of Health. They studied online activities of these people during a period of six months and found that strong social life correlated with reduced mortality.