According to Waldinger, the Harvard data showed that inner-circle relationships were better predictors of health and happiness throughout life than IQ, wealth, or social class. Having someone you can call for help at three a.m. can be a buffer against mental and physical decline. “The people who were the most satisfied in their relationships at age fifty,” Waldinger said in his TED talk about the study, “were the healthiest at age eighty.”5 These close relationships also are our primary defense against intimate loneliness.
