Social Connection: The Unsung Hero Behind Longevity, Health and…
Swetha Mukherjee
Researcher
Blog Writer
LinkedIn
Did you know that social connections are the secret ingredient behind longevity?
This might come as a surprise since we are so used to physical exercise and healthy diets taking centre stage for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
There’s no denying that exercise and diet are vital for living a long and healthy life.
But there’s more story to it. Take a moment and reflect on your own experience.
Don’t you feel happy when you have someone whom you can confide in, share your feelings and seek support in a stressful situation?
Doesn’t it bring a sense of immediate relief and comfort?
Well, happiness is not merely an emotion. It has an important role in promoting a healthy lifestyle that helps you live longer.
And if you concentrate solely on exercise and nutrition, you are overlooking a significant factor affecting your overall well-being: The power of social bonds.
Todays’ modern world is full of high-achieving individuals who are laser focused on achieving their goals. In your pursuit of being more productive, you could be ignoring your social connections.
But science has a different narration.
It validates the role of your social relationships as the “prescription” for longevity.
Not just longevity, your social connections also benefit your health and your workplace.
This blog will explore the following:
What is "social connection"?
Let us first understand what social connection means.
In simple words, social connection is the relationship you build with people around you.
Like other basic necessities of life like food, water, and shelter, your relationships too are a fundamental human needs. Their importance for survival and leading a preventative lifestyle cannot be under-estimated.
But why is a relationship so vital?
A study suggests that social connection is one of our core psychological needs.
According to the self-determination theory, human beings have three basic needs:
- Autonomy
- Relatedness
- Competence
Here, relatedness means being socially connected to others.
And it is only when all the needs are optimally met, people are overall happy and show autonomous behaviour.
Be it in their personal life, or in the workplace, individuals need each other to thrive.
Our history bears witness to this fact.
Prehistory to Today
Human beings have always lived in groups. These groups provided them with a sense of belonging and they felt protected.
It was almost like a social norm, wasn't it?
Families used to live under one roof. They took care of each other and formed strong bonds among themselves.
Today, owing to the hectic lifestyle and the demands of the modern world, our behaviour also changed.
But lack of social connections can affect human health and longevity.
What are the effects of a lacks of social connections?
Did you know that lack of social connection, or in other words, social isolation and loneliness, can be as toxic as smoking? And that it can affect your longevity?
Astounded?
I’m sure you are.
Yes, research shows that health risks of prolonged isolation and loneliness are like those caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
Even a person's lifespan can be shortened by 15 years.
Experts also say that people who don’t have many social connections in their life, face a greater risk of suffering from cardiac or heart problems.
This proves the importance of social support in promoting a preventative lifestyle. Your social connections will help you ward off different heart problems.
But still you ignore it, don’t you?
Well, you are not alone.
There’s no doubt that loneliness and isolation is a growing problem.
A survey was conducted by Cigna Healthcare in 2018.
Most of the 20,000 U.S. adults who participated in the survey reported that they sometimes or always felt lonely.
The same group published another survey in 2020. This survey showed that more than three out of five Americans felt chronically lonely.
The rise in loneliness from 2018 to 2020 is almost 13%.
Shocking, isn’t it?
Social isolation affects your mortality too.
A meta-analytical review links both actual as well as perceived isolation with an increased risk of early mortality.
So, you see your social connections have a direct link to your longevity.
Humans are inherently social beings. We need social connections for our existence.
And the lack of it can affect your health and mental well-being.
Physical Health
- Research shows that adults who experience social isolation have a greater risk of suffering from coronary heart disease and excess risk of workplace stress.
It is a well-known fact that stress is a major trigger for heart problems.
- A study also shows an increased risk of incident coronary heart disease (29%) and stroke (32%).
- The effects of lack of social connection don’t end with your heart.
According to the Maastricht Study, social isolation causes risk of Type-2 diabetes mellitus.
- Social isolation also causes an increased risk of high blood pressure or hypertension.
- Did you know that social isolation and loneliness result in increased inflammation that can cause serious health issues?
- An article published in CNN Health mentions that people who lack social connection also develop harmful habits.
- Lack of social connection can also weaken your immune system, making you more susceptible to various infections.
All these research and studies suggest that your relationships can be your starting point for leading a healthy and preventative lifestyle.
Mental Health
Recent studies have found that social isolation and loneliness play a major role in:
- suicide
- increased risk of dementia (increase by 50%)
There’s no denying that irrespective of age, every human being is vulnerable to the harmful effects of social isolation and loneliness.
Now you understand the importance of making time for building social connections even if you are busy.
Imagine the number of health issues your relationships can help you prevent.
Moreover, scientific evidence has time and again associated social connection to longevity.
The Science Behind Social Connections and Longevity
According to the Harvard Study of Adult Development, embracing community promotes longevity and also makes us happier.
This study was one of the world’s longest studies of human life. It tracked the impact of social relationships on the lives of 268 Harvard sophomores and spanned over 8 decades.
Following are some of its key findings:
- According to Robert Waldinger, the Director of this study, your relationships, and how happy you are in your relationships, have a powerful influence on your health.
- The study revealed that it was not just about your body. Taking care of your relationships was also a form of self-care.
- Close relationships had a more significant role to play than money or fame in achieving a happy life.
- According to Waldinger, people with warm relationships lived a long and happy life.
- In his TED talk, Robert Waldinger mentioned that good relationships don’t just protect our brains. They protect our bodies as well.
- He further added that the relationship satisfaction levels of the people in the 50s did a better job in predicting physical health than their middle-aged cholesterol levels.
- Those who were the most satisfied in their relationships in their 50s were also the healthiest in their 80s.
There’s another famous landmark study conducted by Lisa Berkman and Leonard Syme that connects social connection to longevity.
The study showed that people with stronger social and community ties were 3 times less likely to die than those with fewer contacts.
See, how your social connections directly have an impact on the longevity of your life?
If you are still not convinced, here’s more evidence.
In another innovative research, professor of psychology, Julianne Holt-Lunstad and her colleagues of Brigham Young University reported that the quality and the quantity of social relationships of individuals affect morbidity and mortality.
According to Holt-Lunstad, people who have more social connections tend to live longer than those who live in isolation or are less connected. The latter group is at a higher risk of early mortality.
This meta-analysis conducted across 148 studies on 3,08,849 participants, revealed that individuals with stronger social connections had a 50% higher chance of living longer than those with weaker social relationships.
So you see, although the methods of the studies may vary, the results were unanimous–
Social connection impacts longevity and the quality of life.
Benefits of Social Connections
Scientific evidence proves that social connection is associated with longevity and happiness.
But its role doesn’t end there.
Your social connections have a positive impact on your overall health and well- being.
Further, according to Anne Mckee, Happiness Expert and the Author of the book, “How to Be Happy at Work”, one way to feel happy and fulfilled in your workplace is by building friendships with the people at work.
So, social relationships play an important role at your workplace as well.
Let’s explore these benefits of social connections.
Impact of Social Connections on Physical Health
- Strong social connections can help improve your cardiovascular health.
Research shows that more social support results in a decrease in cardiovascular disease outcomes. So, if you have more social connections, you’ll have a lesser chance of experiencing stroke, heart attack, or developing heart disease.
- Having a strong social network and support can also encourage you to adopt healthier habits.
Lisa Berkman, a Director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies supported this. People with strong social connections and better social ties smoked less, ate healthy, and had an active lifestyle.
- Social connections play an important role in improving your sleep quality
- Your relationships also benefit your immune system.
Research shows that with higher levels of social connectedness, you can lower the risk of increased inflammation by 40%.
There’s research that also suggests that people with good social relationships have better resistance to the common cold.
Impact of Social Connections on Mental Health
- Your social connections can help you regulate your stress levels, an essential factor in maintaining your overall well-being:
- Studies show that social support and social integration have a large impact in buffering stress.
- Social connection also plays a major role in reducing blood pressure, decreases the levels of stress hormone cortisol, and reduces cardiovascular reactivity to stress.
- Your relationships give you a sense of purpose, meaning, and belonging in your life. These help you live a life of meaning and fulfilment.
- Your social support makes you feel accepted and validated. As a result, your self-esteem receives a boost and you feel more confident. Social connections help you become resilient. Their support helps you in coping with psychological traumas.
- Your relationships make you a happier human being.
Impact of Social Connection in the Workplace
According to a Forbes article, encouraging effective social connections in the workplace is the path to build a successful workforce.
Social connections at the workplace help in improving the productivity of your employees.
Employees who have good relations with their colleagues and superiors, feel motivated. They work together to achieve individual and organisational goals and have fun while working.
Through social connections, your employees build a network among themselves. They learn to support and trust each other, share knowledge, and collaborate.
This provides immense scope for personal development, and learning, and improves individual performance.
- Better social connections at work help in enhancing employee engagement.
Research shows that more than 3 out of 5 employees who have more social connections at work are highly engaged.
As an employer, you should encourage quality social connections at work.
Through these relationships, you help build a strong company culture based on trust, loyalty, and respect. Your employees become dedicated and motivated to perform their best for the company.
Having good social relations at the workplace improves the mental health of employees.
The work relationships that your employees develop gives them emotional support. Their colleagues help them with advice and support when they seek the same. This reduces the stress level of the employees, which can otherwise affect work.
Lower risk means better mental well-being of your employees.
Social connections at the workplace results in increased job satisfaction.
Employees who have friends at work, feel a sense of belonging and enjoy their work more.
They experience greater levels of job satisfaction in their roles and become more invested in the goals of the organisation.
By encouraging your employees to build relationships in the workplace, you make them feel more valued and engaged.
How do you build social connections and a strong community?
At HOLON, we believe that just as plants thrive in fertile soil, humans flourish within a supportive community.
Along with health benefits, your social connections and your community can become a support system that keeps you motivated, inspired, and accountable to your objectives.
When you have common goals, you can share progress with each other.
This helps you to encourage each other and celebrate successes together.
With this belief, we provide you with 4 tips on building social connections and a strong community:
1. Be authentic
Being authentic is key to building meaningful relationships.
Be yourself and allow others to see your true self. This creates a strong foundation for genuine connections.
2. Share vulnerabilities
Don’t shy away from being vulnerable.
Sharing your challenges and vulnerabilities can create a deeper sense of connection with others who may have gone through similar experiences.
3. Engage in shared activities
Participate in group activities, classes, clubs, or events that align with your interests.
This provides a common ground for interaction and the opportunity to meet like-minded individuals.
4. Nurture existing relationships
Dedicate time to maintain and strengthen existing relationships.
Reach out to friends, family, and acquaintances regularly, whether through texts, calls, or in-person meetings
A word from HOLON : Join your Community
In today’s fast-paced world, many of us prioritise productivity and achievement. As a result, it becomes convenient to overlook the unsung hero of your well-being and longevity: social connections.
But good news is, success and longevity can co-exist. Your social connections can be your answer to achieving both.
Your relationships become the foundation of your preventative lifestyle. They help you live a longer and healthier life of happiness and fulfilment.
And it doesn't stop at your personal life.
In the professional world, it’s not just about climbing the success ladder.
A supportive and connected community has prime importance in the workplace as well. They help you thrive at work and be happy while being successful.
At HOLON, we understand the immense value of social connections. We believe that humans can reach greater heights in a supportive community. Our commitment is to foster these connections, paving the way for both personal and professional enrichment.
We created a platform where you can connect with like-minded individuals : the Holon Community.
Along with benefiting your health and well-being, these connections also become your essential support system whenever you need it.
If you are looking to enjoy the benefits of social connections and elevate the quality of your life, join HOLON and experience how a strong community can transform your health, well-being, and longevity.
Disclaimer:
The information and other content provided in this blog, website or in any linked materials are not intended and should not be considered, or used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
