Everyone loves an opportunity to relax and hang out with friends. Surprisingly, social activity is also extremely powerful when it comes to improving our health. There are volumes of research that show that our social life, and feeling connected to others, is in fact essential for good health.
Take for example, the studies they’ve done on loneliness. In one telling study, researchers took a group of elderly people and found that there was a powerful connection between feelings of loneliness and health outcomes, including mortality. In other words, social interaction was associated with how long these people lived.
The second surprising thing these people found was that feelings of limitation were also involved. They found that feelings of loneliness were strongly associated with feelings of limitation.
What these researchers said was that people that felt they had functional limitations (ie, inability to do things) were much more likely to experience substantial feelings of loneliness. And if we think about that for awhile, it makes sense. What if you are not sure you can actually manage surfing? Are you going to go with your friends to the beach to rent surf boards? Or on the week long surf trip?
This study of course was in older adults, where the situation becomes even more significant. What about the person that skips out on the lunch with friends because they don’t feel confident about it? Maybe they can’t drive far, or walk, or climb stairs, etc etc. And because they don’t know if they can make it, or they just don’t feel quite up to doing it, and without really even thinking about it, give up the social opportunities that are out there for them.
We all know how habitual decisions can be. Once you do something once (or in this case, don’t do something), it becomes much easier to make the same choice again. What if this could be prevented in the first place? Our ability to go out and enjoy life is very much dependent on our health and function. When was the last time you ducked out of an opportunity to spend time with friends or family because you weren’t sure you felt up to doing what everyone else was doing? Playing tennis, whitewater rafting, the possibilities are endless.
The funny thing about loneliness is that we aren’t alone. As humans, we all have the same sorts of problems. Chances are, if you feel a certain way, there are probably thousands, if not millions, of people that have had the same troubles.
So why not reach out? Grab your friend and bring them with you to your chiropractor and start learning about how to start feeling and functioning better, and have more confidence in your ability to do more, and not feel like you missed out! Once we start looking for ways to improve instead of at what we can’t do, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities.
1 Luo Y, Hawkley LC, Waite LJ, Cacioppo JT. Loneliness, health, and mortality in old age: A national longitudinal study. Social Science & Medicine. 2012;74:907–914
Your health can protect you from the over-commercialization of the holidays. More and more, we hear about how the holidays have turned into something different than what they used to be. Instead of the “true” meaning of Christmas and other holidays they have become about consumerization. Buying and selling and big online sales, they had taken over the season.
Your health can protect you from the over-commercialization of the holidays. More and more, we hear about how the holidays have turned into something different than what they used to be. Instead of the “true” meaning of Christmas and other holidays they have become about consumerization. Buying and selling and big online sales, they had taken over the season.
Has anyone told you you don’t need permission to be a superhero? Or that you don’t need someone to tell you it’s okay to help other people? There are some amazing stories of people that decided they didn’t want to wait to help the people around them that needed help. These were people that didn’t have advanced degrees or complicated certifications. What they did have was the sense of action and an overwhelming urgency to start making changes in the world around them.
It’s a classic phrase by Rene Descartes – one that is instantly recognizable. And it comes from a totally unrecognizable world – 1637.
Yet it is still true today. Descartes’ attempt to get to the very bedrock of what he was as a human being is worth looking at as we turn over into the new year. Especially as we examine the beginning of something new – a time when discussions turn to the entire idea of new, and what the idea of new creates – the vision of new possibilities.
Anti-aging is a trick. And like all tricks, it’s not real. We all slow down, grow old, and die. But like all tricks, when done well, they are amazing and fun. Here is how the trick of anti-aging can work for you.
Take the aging progression above and expand it all the way. From the time we are very young, we grow, get bigger, stronger, smarter and generally better at everything as we go.
Here is the solution to understanding an ever-more common anxiety-causing malady. And how the key to solving it is getting two things – knowing what it takes to get healthy – and the power of understanding how to choose the quickest line at the grocery store.
