How being social can help you health

If you've taken up the task of working towards better health, the road may seem lonely, but it doesn't have to be. Aside from acting as supports, there are other ways getting healthy can be a social endeavour.

Never underestimate the importance of your relationships with family, friends and neighbours. Supportive friendships have a much more crucial role in maintaining good health than most people acknowledge.

• Take stress, for example. Many studies have demonstrated that chronic stress can take a serious physical toll, contributing to heart problems by raising blood pressure and increasing blood's tendency to clot.
• Having a few close friends — the kind to whom you can talk about anything — can relieve stress and mitigate its harmful effects on your body.

States of mind and behaviours can spread through social networks, almost like an infection. The explanation for this is not simply that individuals tend to make friends with people who have similar characteristics to themselves; rather, it shows that certain character traits can rub off on others.

• The effects can be transmitted through three degrees of separation — your own friend is most likely to influence you, but your friend's friend has some effect, and even your friend's friend's friend can play a small role.

Being involved is important because our bodies are responsive to a wide range of social relationships — even our interaction with our neighbours can exert a surprising influence on our happiness.

• The reason for this could be that, if we see our neighbours virtually every day, they contribute to our sense of belonging and support in the local community. This has a big impact on our sense of satisfaction with life.

So remember the benefits to your cardiovascular system of just being involved. Widen your social circle, talk to your neighbours, get involved in your community, volunteer with local groups, take up new hobbies and get together regularly with other people.