Dr. Rijusmita Sarma
Social health is an indispensable aspect of a person’s overall well-being. Social health refers to the way we connect with others and our sense of belongingness, community, and connectedness. It is about having relationships where a person feels valued, loved, and supported. Healthy social connections are considered to be as vital as good food and sleep in terms of their contribution to a person’s well-being. Social health also includes setting healthy boundaries.
Why is healthy social connectedness important?
Longevity: Supportive social connections help us live longer. A study conducted on elderly diabetics revealed that increased interactions with others help reduce mortality. Emotionally supportive relationships positively influence our life expectancy.
Better immunity: Studies reveal that people who have healthy social interactions have more effective immune systems than introverts.
Heart health: Positive social health impacts our cardiovascular health. It is said that reduced social interaction is linked with increased chances of myocardial infarction.
Improved productivity: It is often thought that those who don’t engage in workplace conversations are the ones who are more productive. But a study revealed otherwise. It was found that workers who socialised more during breaks were more productive than those who didn’t.
Preserving brain health: Social interactions have been helpful in preserving brain health. It can be immensely helpful in preventing dementia.
Preserving mental health: emotionally supportive social connections can help prevent mental health problems, including depression. Even in instances where people have already been diagnosed with depression, caring and supportive relationships can help in recovery, and a lack of social support can worsen symptoms.
Better pain management: People who engage in fruitful social interactions have a higher pain tolerance. Pleasant social connections release endorphins, which make us less sensitive to pain.
Developing healthy habits: Social connections with common interests can encourage us to develop and maintain healthy habits like eating healthy, working out, reading, etc.
Let’s proceed to discuss some ways that can be adopted to improve our social health.
Build your circle: surround ourselves with people with whom meaningful relationships can add to our well-being.
Hobbies: Nurturing hobbies can help us connect with people who have common interests.
Nurturing relationships: It is important to put effort into nurturing relationships. Spending quality time together, expressing our feelings, and listening to each other can be immensely helpful.
Asking for help: Often, during difficult times, we tend to withdraw and try to deal with everything alone. Asking for help can not only ease our distress but also develop deeper bonds.
Volunteering: Volunteering can be an amazing way of nurturing our social health. We can do things like do grocery shopping for an ailing neighbour, get involved in a social cause of interest, etc.
Working on our social skills: If initiating or taking part in social interactions seems difficult, we can seek assistance to work on them. Taking one step at a time can help us improve.
Although socialising can be a healthy way to preserve our mental health, we need to be cautious of a few things. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ idea of socialising. We need to explore and figure out the type, frequency, and intensity of socialising that helps us feel recharged rather than drained. Healthy boundary setting is important to maintain fruitful and consistent relationships. It is important that we identify relationships that are mentally taxing for us and try to maintain a healthy distance. Learning to have quality time alone is also important. It sounds counterintuitive, but developing relationships, irrespective of their effect on our mental health, to avoid being alone can be damaging. And considering the change in social structure and dynamics, social connectedness has significantly decreased. However, the longest study on human happiness (conducted over 85 years) revealed that satisfying relationships are one of the key factors contributing to human happiness. Hence, working on our social health is crucial to maintaining our overall well-being and beating the epidemic of loneliness.
(The writer is a counselling psychologist.)
