Being social is good for your health

We are wired to be connected together with strong social ties for better health that much we know. Why this is, is still a bit of a mystery. There has been a pretty substantial amount of research showing that having a healthy social life is vital to improved health, maybe as much as avoiding cigarette smoking. A comprehensive analysis of 148 research studies was done in 2010 by researchers from Brigham Young University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The research review showed that having lots of strong social ties gave a boost to longevity as well as not smoking and even better than regular exercise and maintaining a healthy weight.

How these increased social ties works to improve our long term health have been demonstrated in a few studies. One such study showed how our heart rate and blood pressure will increase less during a stressful situation when we are accompanied by someone close to us. Our body seems to be able to handle and cope with the stress better with fewer extremes when we are able to be connected with those important to us. This is also seen in studies demonstrating that our immune system seems to work better to fight off illness when we have more social connections. Our immune system reacts to stress hormones, such as catecholamines and glucocorticoids. Strong social support reduces these stress hormones allowing our immune system to work more efficiently to keep us healthy.

Obviously not all relationships are healthy, so promoting healthy good relationships is important. One method to help with this is building our relationships with others around physical activity. The list of long term benefits of being physically active is long, but we forget that it also has immediate benefits of improving our mood. As soon as you start exercising you get a boost of neurotransmitters in the brain (dopamine and serotonin) that give us pleasure and boost our mood. So, if our mood is better it will help with building healthy relationships. Look for opportunities to combine adding social connections along with physical activity such as: joining a team sport (such as volleyball, soccer or biking club), do activities with friends and family (such as going for a walk, playing tennis or bike riding together), or take part in group fitness activities (such as an exercise or dance class).

So make sure you are working to build and maintain your social connections. Having a strong healthy social support system will add years and quality to your life.