Social Health
Social Health is the aspect of your wellbeing related to the depth of your relationships and the meaningfulness of your connections with others. Social health encompasses your closest friends to your local barista - any connection you have to another person. Your social health, though interrelated to your physical and mental health, its it’s own category with its own determinants and influences.
The longest running study on happiness in the world, the Harvard Study of Adult Development, found that close relationships are the single most important factor for a long, happy, and healthy life. Studies show that people with good social health are less likely to experience health problems such as dementia, anxiety and depression, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and even premature death.
“Loneliness kills. It’s as powerful as smoking or alcoholism”
For many of us, it is not taught or modelled to us how to expand and deepen our connections. We find ourselves in our adult lives struggling to navigate conflict with friends, heal from platonic heartbreak, or gather meaningfully outside traditions we may no longer feel connected to. You can’t expect yourself to be socially healthy without taking the time to build knowledge and skills. Just like you need to learn about nutrition and cooking techniques before being able to sustain a healthy diet.
There are two things you can do to increase your social health:
Learn about what social health is, what your current social health is like, and what you would like it to be. Self care begins with self knowledge.
Practice what you’ve learned to connect meaningfully with others, approach confrontation confidently, express affection appropriately, and display vulnerability safely.
And if you’ve read this far, you’ve already made a great first step in your social health journey!
Just like any other aspect of your health, you will have good days and bad days. Health is not linear, and often changes as we venture through new life stages.
Accessible methods for improving your social health
Learn more about social health through library resources. Books like Why Brains Need Friends by Ben Rein, Big Friendship by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, and Platonic by Dr. Marisa G. Franco are available in physical, audio, and e-book format and are great ways to better understand social health and how we can improve our social wellness.
Connect with others with similar values through volunteering. Through self-reflection, talking with a friend, or using a values worksheet (such as Brené Brown’s Living Into Our Values exercise). If you value things like curiosity, knowledge, and community, maybe you’d enjoy volunteering at a local museum; or, If you value nature, stewardship, and caretaking, maybe you’d enjoy volunteering with an environment or wildlife organization.
Improve your communication and social skills through simple, consistent practise. Science tells us that we are not as bad at socializing as we think we are! (And even if you are, practise makes progress.) Practise small talk, and big talk, when appropriate. Take social risks and learn from the results. If you’re experiencing social anxiety, connecting with a peer support group can be a great way to connect with people with similar experiences, gather tips, and feel less alone.
For support in your social health journey, reach out to learn more about you can get involved with Kithship.