Why keeping up with the Joneses can jeopardise your health

By Fiona Macrae for the Daily Mail
Updated: 19:50 EDT, 7 July 2009

It has long been bad for the state of your bank balance.

But trying to keep up with the Joneses could also damage your health.

Those who feel eclipsed by friends and neighbours’ success are more likely to have heart disease, diabetes, ulcers and high blood pressure, a study found.

Fence competition: Those jealous of neighbours are more likely to get sick

It is thought stress from envy and inadequacy affect hormone levels and immunity, raising susceptibility to disease.

In a study entitled Can Having Richer Friends Make You Sick? Chicago University researchers asked 3,000 men and women - aged between 57 and 85 - to rate their health and list individual illnesses, such as heart problems and diabetes.

The men and women, who were aged between 57 and 85, were asked to rate their overall health and list individual illnesses such as heart problems and diabetes.

They were also asked to rate their financial position in their social network of friends, family, neighbours and workmates.

Analysis showed that those very low in the pecking order were up to 22 per cent more likely to be in poor health than those who believed they had done the best for themselves, with heart disease being a particular problem.

But being at the other end of the social spectrum cut the risk of diabetes, ulcers and high blood pressure, the journal Social Science & Medicine reports.

The researchers said that although poverty has long been linked to ill-health, a person's relative social position also seems to have a bearing.

Genevieve Pham-Kanter, of Chicago University, said feelings of envy and inadequacy may cause health to deteriorate.

She said: 'The main physiological mechanism is thought to be the chronic stress induced by day-to-day social comparisons in which one is found to be less worthy.

'This repeated stress leads to chronically high levels of stress hormones which are thought to play a role in the development of certain health conditions'

The study is not the first to look at the impact of striving to keep up with the Joneses.

Research from the respected Harvard University found that moving up the property ladder does not make people happy.

Envy of our new, more affluent neighbours can cause bitter unhappiness, discontent and rows.

Jealousy can even lead families to cut back on threats or do without essentials so they can splash out on a status symbol car or expensive building work to match the new neighbourhood.

And a study of Lotto winners concluded that money doesn't buy happiness.

Although the new millionaires studied did appear to be happier in general than ordinary members of the public, their contentment was not based on material goods.

Instead, they revelled in being able to take time off to appreciate the free things in life, such as long soaks in the bath, an afternoon snooze or a leisurely stroll in the park.