-We've actually spent a number of years looking at this molecular biology in loneliness intervention that change this underlying biological risk.

Interestingly enough, there is something that does work, and that is a sense of meaning and purpose in a person's life.

-Having a strong sense of purpose in life is probably the most important psychological predictor of longevity.

When negative stuff happens, our ability to recover is so important, and it turns out that people who have their eye on something really meaningful, the stresses and strains of life become less significant.

-Purpose overcomes "fight or flight."

People who have a high sense of meaning in their life, a sense of engagement with an important mission or a community, their bodies look great at the molecular level.

♪♪ -Having a strong sense of purpose is really, in part, about connection, because we often have a purpose in benefiting others, in being able to care for others, in loving others, and that is an intimate component of purpose.

-Once we realized how powerful purpose was as an antagonist of threat and insecurity, we started looking for protocols for making more purpose and meaning in everyday life.

And one of the projects that has been most successful is an intervention called Generation Exchange.

-Generation Exchange places retired seniors into public schools in South Central LA as teachers' aides.

-Do you always have time to eat breakfast?

-No.

-These mentors get a sense of purpose and connection from the program, which produces measurable health benefits.

Steve Cole collaborates with the program, analyzing blood samples from participants to understand its impact as a life-changing intervention.

Once they get trained and go into the classrooms, the level of inflammatory biology drops dramatically and antiviral biology goes up by more than any other intervention that we've ever seen.