Good relationship with colleagues may help you live longer

Researchers at the University of Tel Aviv in Israel found that people with good peer-to-peer relationships had a lower risk of mortality than those who did not chime with their co-workers.

And the link between a positive workmate relationship and the risk of mortality was most significant among those aged between 38 and 43, the researchers found.

However, they found that positive support from managers or others in senior positions had no effect on mortality, the Daily Mail reported.

"Peer social support, which could represent how well a participant is socially integrated in his or her employment context, is a potent predictor of the risk of all causes of mortality," said the researchers.

Factors contributing to positive working relationships included helping others to solve problems and friendliness, they said.

For the study, conducted over a period of 20 years between 1988 and 2008, the researchers looked at 820 professionals.

They were chosen from some of the country`s largest finance, insurance, public utilities, health care and manufacturing firms working on average 8.8 hours a day

One-third of the participants were female while 80 per cent were married with children and 45 per cent had at least 12 years of formal education.

The results, published in the journal Health Psychology, showed that male longevity was increased by control and decision authority.

However, the same responsibilities in the female sample were found to have the opposite effect, showing an increased risk of mortality.

Lead researcher, Dr Arie Shirom admitted they didn`t have data on changes in workload, control or support during the 20-year period.