The Need for Daily Social Interaction

 THE NEED FOR DAILY SOCIAL INTERACTION

Sept. 29, 2022

    Welcome to this blog post, courtesy of the local department of socialization. This purpose of this blog post is to inform you of the need for daily social interaction, the effects it can have on mental, physical, and overall health. We hope you are able to benefit from reading this, and learn the importance of social interaction daily.

    According to a Harvard Medial School, "dozens of studies have shown that have shown that people who have social support from family, friends, and their community are happier, have fewer health problems, and live longer".The health benefits of strong relationships

    So why do we have less health problems, happier days, and live longer if we have social interactions? By nature, we as humans are social people. We always have been and we always will be. Life can be stressful. We are always on the go. We are always trying to keep up in a fast paced world. We have many things that need our attention. We as humans already have high stress and cortisol levels and having meaningful, successful social interactions can have the opposite affect and reduce those levels. In a study among Hong Kong elderly residents, researchers found that those people who spent more time finding and improving social relationships had a significant drop in cortisol levels, which could explain why positive relationships help us stay healthier, and live longer Social Network Characteristics and Salivary Cortisol in Healthy Older People.

     Just how we take the time to plan our meals, appointments, homework, etc, we should take the time to plan how we can increase our social interactions. What can we do to have more social interactions daily? Some ideas include volunteering, random acts of kindness, study groups, bringing a neighbor home-baked goods,  joining a sports team, joining a cooking class, taking up a new hobby including gardening, sewing, hiking, and fishing. Even talking on the phone to someone can raise cortisol levels more than reading a text on the phone. Sometimes it may be hard to get outside of your comfort zone to meet new people, but the benefit could add many years to your life. According to a study done at Brigham Young University, lacking social connection carries a risk that is comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes per day The Potential Public Health Relevance of Social Isolation and Loneliness. That is just a crazy study. We don't realize how how important it is to have social connections. Like mentioned above, there are many things that we can do to increase our social interaction. 

We hope you have found this blog post informative. We hope you learned something that can help you develop a desire for social interaction in your daily life. 

Resources

The health benefits of strong relationships

Social Network Characteristics and Salivary Cortisol in Healthy Older People

The Potential Public Health Relevance of Social Isolation and Loneliness

DISCLAIMER:  This is for a class assignment; it is not a real blog.