Did You Know? Social Connection is Good for Your Health!
Here are some of the main benefits of having positive relationships in your life: • lowers your stress hormone levels • reminds you to keep up healthy routines • improves your mental health by boosting happiness levels • helps you to reduce negative behaviors, such as watching too much television • encourages compassion, trust and intimacy Now you know the many benefits of social connection. If you are currently experiencing feelings of loneliness, here are some ways to help you get more connected and work toward better health: • Think about someone who could use some help, especially if they might be lonely themselves. For example, you could visit a neighbor or friend who is battling a chronic illness. Try bringing over a meal, offering to clean or helping them with their pets. • Check out websites such as Meetup.com or Citysocializer.com, which helps bring people together with similar interests. • Call a friend you haven’t spoken with in a while and ask them out for coffee or dinner to catch up on each other’s lives. Or invite a coworker to do something together after work, such as going to a happy hour or a movie. • Enroll in a class that you are interested in to meet like-minded people who may eventually become friends. • Volunteer at your church or in your local community.
We know as a working professional you have a lot to do each week. While you may be working alongside others each day and conversing briefly with the barista who hands you your coffee each morning, are you carving out time for quality social connections into your weekly schedule? “A social connection should be a public priority,” states Julianne Holt-Lunstad, professor of psychology at Brigham Young University and lead author of a study on the health risks of loneliness. Holt-Lunstad says that their study shows that “social connection is associated with a 50 percent reduced risk of early death.” Moreover, a lack of social connection is similar in health risk to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. Loneliness was also found to exceed the risks of other unhealthy behavior s, such a s exces s i ve alcohol consumption, physical inactivity or obesity.
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