SOCIALIZING BY SENIORS FOUND VITAL.

Byline: Robert Monroe Staff Writer

In dance instructor Jo Anne McCulloch's class at a center for senior citizens, the dancing is only half the attraction.

The friendship is the other half.

``It gives you a good mental attitude,'' said Joe Janovitch, an 82-year-old retired businessman. ``It's a real antidepressant.''

A study by Harvard University researchers released Thursday came as no surprise to the class. The researchers found that elderly people who like to eat out, play cards, take part in other social activities and go to movies live an average of 2-1/2 years longer than more reclusive people, and those with paid or volunteer work live four years longer.

Health experts typically recommend that the elderly stay active, but the study by Harvard University researchers suggests that simply mixing with other people could offer as much benefit as regular exercise.

Experts say the study, published in this week's British Medical Journal, goes further than previous ones because it compares different types of activities and concludes that the benefits of social and productive pursuits are equivalent to - and independent of - the merits of exercise.

``There is a positive nugget for people who can't exercise or won't exercise,'' said Richard Suzman, associate director for behavioral and social research at the U.S. National Institute of Aging, who was not connected with the study.

``It shows there are alternatives that look like they might be just as beneficial,'' Suzman said.

It had been widely assumed that staying active is good for people because of the physical exertion, said Thomas Glass, an assistant professor of health and social behavior at Harvard's School of Public Health.

``That social activities involving almost no physical exertion played a measurable role at all in length of life is really quite something,'' said Glass, who led the study.

``This is perhaps the strongest circumstantial evidence we've had to date that having a meaningful purpose at the end of life lengthens life.''

For the study, Glass and his colleagues recruited 2,761 residents of New Haven, Conn., who were 65 and older when the researchers began keeping charts on them for 13 years. Their exercise, social and productive activity were tracked.

Factors known to contribute to longer life, such as superior health or education, did not influence the results significantly, the researchers said.

Subjects were asked how frequently they were involved in 14 common activities categorized as mainly social, productive or physical.

Physical activities listed in the study were walking, fitness exercises and active sports or swimming.

The social activities that researchers tracked included going to church, movies, restaurants and sporting events, taking day trips, participating in social groups and playing cards, bingo or other games.

Pursuits categorized as productive included gardening, preparing meals, shopping, employment or unpaid community work.

``All these things I do,'' said Arnold Dolmatz, 72, a retired optometrist who spends some time at the ONE Valley Senior Center in Reseda, sponsored by the Organization for the Needs of the Elderly.

Many who use the center, including Lenore Boronkay, are retired teachers. They also volunteer at museums and galleries and reap a healthy sense of purpose, said Boronkay, 66.

``You feel like you're still contributing to the community,'' she said. ``There certainly is a mind-body connection.''

Researchers found that exercise, social and productive activity often overlap, but the study of the three categories was kept separate, although some of the subjects were in more than one. Comparisons were made only within a category.

Among those who participated in social activities, the most active proved to be 19 percent less likely to die during the study's duration than those least engaged in social activities, Glass said. Those most socially active lived about 2-1/2 years longer, he said.

When it came to physical fitness, those who exercised most frequently were 15 percent less likely to die than their more sedentary counterparts. They also survived about 2-1/2 years longer.

Those who were most engaged in productive pursuits were 23 percent less likely to die than those least involved in such pursuits. The difference in longevity between those two groups was about four years.

Because the categories were not compared with each other, however, the findings cannot be construed to mean that being constructive is better than exercising when it comes to extending life, Glass said.

The results remained consistent even when gardening and shopping, which involve some physical activity, were dropped from calculations of the effect of productiveness, the researchers said.

Among those who exercised least, the people heavily involved in social and productive pursuits lived longer than those who rarely engaged in such activities.

Doing a lot, rather than not much, of activities listed in any category extended life in almost every case, Glass said.

``This is pretty impressive because of what they've done to sort out that it wasn't physical activity or physical health that was responsible,'' said Harold G. Koenig, an associate professor of psychiatry and medicine at Duke University Medical Center, who was not connected with the study.

The researchers could not say how much of any type of activity is best. Nor did they conclude whether engaging in a variety of pursuits or focusing heavily on a single one is better.

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Photo: Alice Rosenthal, left, and Sylvia Saxe find just visiting is healthy.

Lisa Poole/Associated Press