How social are you?
Next time hubby scolds you about kitty parties, you can guide him to this post.
There’s science backed facts to encourage positive social bonds.
With lives getting busier,families smaller a nurturing social life is even more a priority.
Social relationships are important.
#TRUTH 1
Quantity and quality of your company will affect:
- Mental health
- Health behavior
- Physical health, and
- Mortality risk.
Not convinced?
Did you know captors use social isolation to torture prisoners of war?
#TRUTH 2
Social isolation of healthy, well-functioning people can cause psychological & physical breakdown.
Even death!
#TRUTH 3
Adults who are socially connected are healthier and live longer .
That’s why parents ,relatives and grand parents need us even more when they grow older.
Socially useful relationships make life meaningful .
Image courtesy Aniruddha Das
Majority of research findings show :
(1) Social relationships have significant effects on health
(2) Social relationships affect health through behavioral, psychosocial, and physiological pathways.
(3) Relationships benefit health
(4) Relationships shape your health .
#TRUTH 4
Humans crave social integration.The quality of the relationship is also important .
It’s important that relationships give positive emotional support.
Poor quality social ties affect health.
It can impair immune functions,poor health and Mortality.
(Kiecolt-Glaser et al. 2002; Robles and Kiecolt-Glaser 2003).
Marriage is the most studied social tie.
#TRUTH 5
Marital relationship, affects cardiovascular disease, chronic conditions.
Berkman and Syme (1979)showed that the risk of death among men and women with the fewest social ties was more than twice as high as the risk for adults with the most social ties.
#TRUTH 6
Social ties decrease mortality risk among adults with documented medical conditions. Brummett and colleagues (2001) found that, among adults with coronary artery disease, the socially isolated had a risk of subsequent cardiac death 2.4 times greater than their more socially connected peers.
Conditions associated with poor social health:
- Cardiovascular disease
- Recurrent myocardial infarction
- Atherosclerosis
- Autonomic dysregulation
- High blood pressure
- Cancer and delayed cancer recovery Slower wound healing (Ertel, Glymour, and Berkman 2009; Everson-Rose and Lewis 2005; Robles and Kiecolt-Glaser 2003; Uchino 2006).
#TRUTH 7
Marriage is perhaps the most studied social tie. Recent work shows that marital history over the life course shapes a range of health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, chronic conditions, mobility limitations, self-rated health, and depressive symptoms (Hughes and Waite 2009;Zhang and Hayward 2006).
How relationships affect health?
#TRUTH 8
Three ways that social ties work to influence health:
- Behavioral
- Psychosocial and
- Physiological.
Image courtesy Aniruddha Das
What are positive Health Behaviors?
- Exercise
- Nutritious diet,
- Sticking to medical advice.
- Practicing better mental health
What are negative health behaviours
- Smoking
- Excessive weight gain
- Drug abuse
- Heavy alcohol consumption
- Lack of mental stimulation
- Avoiding social interaction
We live with our spouses after being pampered by our parents.So spousal support and understanding goes a long way in giving you positive health.
#TRUTH 9
For children the home environment is their first chance of understanding social integration.
Unhappy marriage and parenthood have been associated with poor health behaviors .
Physical inactivity and weight gain are two negative effects of poor marital quality .
What is important is positive effect of any relationship.
If the effect of these ties are not positive. Then mental health is affected.
Mind and body are two sides of the same coin. They work together and act together. When your mind dreams your body does.
Both are actions.Just in their own way.
So positive health benefits from a relationship needs affects , mind and body .
What exactly does a poor marriage cause?
Compromised immune and endocrine function.
Depression (Kiecolt-Glaser and Newton 2001).
Sociological research shows that marital strain erodes physical health, and that the negative effect of marital strain on health becomes greater with advancing age (Umberson et al. 2006).
Nagasawa and colleagues (1990) found that negative social environments and their perceived barriers predicted poor compliance to medical regimens among diabetes patients.
What’s happening at office and school can also interfere with health.
Takeaway
Social relationships are important for physical , mental and psychological health .
Quality and Quantity of relationships are both important .
Peer pressure,religious clans are examples of potentially negative social effects.
So any social company needs to be evaluated with respect to the positive effect they have.
[bctt tweet=””It’s better to be alone than in bad company “” username=”misra_amrita”]
#TRUTH 10
For Bloggers and Solopreneurs :
This post is especially important for bloggers and solopreneurs.If you are doing anything alone , it’s a strain on your mental health.
“Joy shared is doubled and burden shared is halved”
Join communities like Blogchatter and see how blogging becomes a social movement with tea parties thrown in.
In this busy world if your offline friends don’t get your spirit , find your friends online.
I did .For #Microblog Mondays is easily the most fun twitter chat ever.
You find friends ,learn ,grow and just get support for your dreams.
Sometimes it just takes one more person to believe.
References
- Zhang Zhenmei, Hayward Mark D. Gender, the Marital Life Course, and Cardiovascular Disease in Late Midlife. Journal of Marriage and Family.2006;68:639–57.
- Willson Andrea E. Race and Women’s Income Trajectories: Employment, Marriage, and Income Security over the Life Course. Social Problems.2003;50:87–110.
- World Health Organization.Mental Health: Strengthening Mental Health Promotion. Fact Sheet No 220. 2007 Retrieved August 23, 2009 (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs220/en/index.html)
- Umberson Debra, Williams Kristi, Powers Daniel A, Chen Meichu. As Good as It Gets? A Life Course Perspective on Marital Quality. Social Forces.2005;84:493–511.[PMC free article] [PubMed]
- Thoits Peggy. Personal Agency and the Stress Process. Journal of Health and Social Behavior.2006;47:309–23. [PubMed]
- Thombs Dennis L, Wolcott Bette Jean, Farkash Lauren G. Social Context, Perceived Norms and Drinking Behavior in Young People. Journal of Substance Abuse. 1997;9:257–67. [PubMed]
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3150158/#!po=95.6667
Social Relationships and Health: A Flashpoint for Health Policy
Debra Umberson and Jennifer Karas Montez
- Educator. 1990;16:192–200.[PubMed]
- Nock Steven L. Marriage in Men’s Lives. New York: Oxford University Press; 1998.
- Palloni Alberto. Reproducing Inequalities: Luck, Wallets, and the Enduring Effects of Childhood Health. Demography.2006;43:587–615. [PubMed]
- Seeman Teresa E, Singer Burton H, Ryff Carol D, Love Gayle Dienberg, Levy-Storms Lené. Social Relationships, Gender, and Allostatic Load across Two Age Cohorts. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2002;64:395–406.[PubMed]
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Hello….
Very Informative page, I hope it will be useful for all of us. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Amen, amen amen. We live rural and I know people don’t get out enough.
This is a great post & so absolutely true! It is one of the main reasons I could never work at home all the time because I need to socialize!!!
I love being with people, but I also think that being alone is sometimes healthy too. I think it is a matter of balance between the two.
Mental health is one of the most ignored issues and because of the life style people lead these days it is the most important. The fact is despite technology having made connecting with people easier, social interaction has decreased. It is important to talk about mental health and man being a social being, social interactions are a great way to keep you on track.
I very much agree that Social relationships are so important in the current lifestyle we all live in and they definitely have a huge impact on one’s mental health. When it comes to children it is so true that Unhappy marriage and parenthood plays a huge part inf affecting their life!
Thank you Lisa for your feedback.
Your post makes a great read! Being social is very important in today’s life but I get disappointed when I see people taking efforts to get only virtually connected and becoming a slave of the social media. Most of the time I see people sitting together in a group and engrossed completely in their mobile without talking to each other physically present there!
Very true Ana.Being social online and offline both are needed nowadays.A balance is needed.Unnecessary addiction to social media is bad.Thanks for reading
I have always been an outgoing social person! 🙂 My mom used to call me a social animal.
Just like you said, the truth is, we humans would always crave relationships with people, and I bet introverts like myself do too.
So I do agree with this post, no matter how reserved a person is, we all need others to complete us 🙂
You are so right, being social is a great way to develop yourself socially and remain healthy. Locking yourself away and distancing yourself from people is a dark path to go on.
Interesting! I try to be social, but sometimes I prefer to be alone. I am an only child so I’m used to that.
I have solid relationships with my husband and children. I don’t get out much socially but I do take my dog to the dog park five days per week and have friends there.
This is so fun to read. I agree with you, we need people around us to exercise our mental health. We don’t need to be friends with them all, but be nice and kind and polite will do. Surprisingly, we can learn a lot from others’ experiences and testimonials.
So cute! I love this post – especially because my husband and I both live hundreds of miles from our family, so the friends we have here in Tennessee play a huge role in our lives!
Thanks Divya. Stay happy
Wow, this is such a good post., I have been guilty of curbing my social activities in the past few weeks. I think its unhealthy, but certainly at times I do not want to mingle and chit chat. I love my kitty parties but, I do take a step back if needed!
Great post 🙂
You are right Z we need to mingle and chat.Even if just to have a change of scene.
Agree with each and every point, Amrita. Being an island does one no good at all. Love the personal touch by adding your family pics. Enjoyed them.
Yes Mayuri so perfectly described.Being an island is draining.It’s so buch better to have a community which is supportive.
Very true about solopreneurs. it’s a pain planing, plotting and blogging everything alone. But few people like me work better as individuals than in a team. So, pros and cons weigh equal.
That is very true. A lot depends on the personality.Valid point made.Thanks for visiting Priyanka
In todays life being social is much important as its required for personal development for everyone .Pics are so adorable & perfect family 🙂 depicts your strong bonding with your family
Thanks Bushra,it’s true being social is very important for personal development.
This is very much true, a human mind needs to communicate emotions. every emotion when potted up would lead to mental illness. Great points here Amrita..cute pics
Thanks Menaka.Yes bottling up our emotions is horrible. It all starts with a healthy mind
Agree 100% on all the points Amrita. Loved your pic with your daughter and in the first one..is that your sister? You look so similar 🙂
Yes Deepa that’s my sister.Thank you so much for reading
I think this is so true. You need to people around you for mental health. Thanks for sharing and writing on this.
Thanks Mahek.Glad you liked this