A pillar of lifestyle medicine

🤝 Social Connection

Why loneliness is a health risk and how support and community protect your health. It is one of the six pillars of lifestyle medicine: relationships and community.

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Social connection and health: why relationships are a pillar of health

How relationships, support and community are linked to longevity and heart health, what meta-analyses show and where to start.

3 min read · 3 scientific sources

All articles

Social Connection

Loneliness as a health risk: what you should know

How loneliness and social isolation are linked to mortality, heart disease and stroke, who is most at risk and what helps.

Social Connection

Volunteering and health: how helping others affects you

What systematic reviews and meta-analyses show about volunteering, depression, life satisfaction and mortality, and how to start without burning out.

Social Connection

Family meals: why eating together matters for health

What meta-analyses show about family meals, children’s weight, healthy eating and disordered eating, and how to make shared meals happen.

Social Connection

Purpose in life and health: how meaning is linked to longevity

What a study of nearly 7,000 Americans over 50 found about life purpose and mortality, why purpose matters at every age and how to find meaning.

Social Connection

How to support someone in crisis: five principles of psychological first aid

The five evidence-informed principles for supporting people after traumatic events, how to talk to someone in crisis and why asking about suicide does not increase risk.

Social Connection

Blue Zones: lessons from the world’s longevity hotspots

What the five Blue Zones, including Loma Linda, California, have in common, what Adventist Health Studies confirm and why some longevity claims are criticized.

Social Connection

Social media and in-person connection: can online replace real relationships?

How heavy social media use is linked to perceived isolation, what experiments found when people limited social media and how to balance online and offline.

Social Connection

Friendship in adulthood: how many hours it takes to make a friend

What research shows about the hours it takes to turn an acquaintance into a close friend, why friendship matters for health and how to build it.

Myth or fact

Myth or fact: introverts do not need social connection

Do introverts do fine alone? What experiments on talking to strangers found and why social connection matters for everyone regardless of temperament.

Social Connection

Couples and health: why relationship quality matters

What a meta-analysis of 126 studies found about marital quality and health, why conflict matters and what keeps relationships healthy.

Social Connection

Pets and health: what research says about dog ownership

What an American Heart Association meta-analysis of 3.8 million people found about dog ownership, mortality and heart attack survival.

Social Connection

Loneliness, hearing loss and dementia: what you can change

What the Lancet Commission found about 12 modifiable dementia risk factors, including social isolation and hearing loss, and practical steps to lower risk.

Social Connection

Kindness and helping others: how it affects you

What a meta-analysis found about acts of kindness and happiness, why spending money on others boosts well-being and simple kindness ideas.

Social Connection

Hugs and touch: what research says about the health benefits

What a cold virus study found about hugs, stress and illness, and what a meta-analysis of more than 130 studies shows about touch, pain, anxiety and depression.

Social Connection

Faith communities and health: what studies show

What a study of 74,000 U.S. nurses found about attending religious services and mortality, possible explanations and why the findings are about community, not one belief.

Social Connection

Grandparents: how caring for grandchildren is linked to longer life

What the Berlin Aging Study found about grandparents who help with grandchildren, why helping others outside the family matters too and why moderation counts.

Social Connection

Arguments and health: how hostile conflict slows wound healing

What a famous experiment with married couples found about hostile arguments and wound healing, and why the way you argue matters for health.

Social Connection

Losing a partner: how to support yourself and others after widowhood

What a meta-analysis found about widowhood and mortality, why the first months are especially risky and how family and friends can help.

Social Connection

Social prescribing: when a doctor "prescribes" community

What social prescribing is, why it makes sense given the evidence on social connection, what we know about its effectiveness and how to try it yourself.

Social Connection

Positive childhood experiences: how they protect adult mental health

What a study of 6,000 adults found about positive childhood experiences, depression and relationships, and what parents and other adults can do.

Social Connection

How to ask for help: we underestimate how willing others are

What experiments found about how much we underestimate people’s willingness to help, why direct requests work better and how to ask.

Social Connection

Gratitude in relationships: small things that strengthen a couple

What a daily diary study of couples found about gratitude and relationship satisfaction, and simple ways to show appreciation every day.

Social Connection

Neighbors and community: how neighborhood cohesion is linked to heart health

What a study of 5,000 U.S. adults found about neighborhood social cohesion and heart attack risk, and simple ways to strengthen your community.

Social Connection

Cold weather and power outages: getting through winter together

Why older and isolated people are at greatest risk during winter storms and outages, how to plan with neighbors and family and what never to use for heat.

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