Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/ijN1YN_akxg   Your parents, siblings, and others hanging on your family tree may be more important to your health than your spouse or significant other.  With Thanksgiving just around the corner, think ahead!   UT Southwestern family medicine researchers studied some 2800 middle-aged adults over a 20 year period.  They tabulated the incidence of illness as a function of the participants’ various relationships.   Those experiencing more intra-family squabbles have significantly more illness.  Intimate partner relationships had no such effect.  On the other hand, supportive family relationships improve disease outcomes.   Holidays are the time to cement good family relationships or to initiate them.  Either way, your life may depend on it.  Think transplant.     Sarah B. Woods, Jacob B. Priest, and Patricia N. E. Roberson. Family Versus Intimate Partners: Estimating WhoMatters More for Health in a 20-Year Longitudinal Study. Journal of Family Psychology, 2019 DOI: 10.1037/fam0000600