Time To Get Social👋
A number of studies confirm that taking part in social/support groups can make us healthier and live a lot longer. For example, this ongoing Harvard study, considered one of the world’s longest studies of adult life, having started in 1938 during the Great Depression, has some pretty convincing evidence.
“It turns out that people who are more socially connected to family, to friends, to community, are happier, they’re physically healthier and they live longer than people who are less well connected.” -Dr. Robert Waldinger.
Attending weekly church services or spiritual groups has major benefits to living longer and decreases chances of becoming depressed. Dr. Harold Koenig at Duke University has conducted several studies on the benefits of attending spiritual services and says positive emotions such as forgiveness, gratefulness, and altruism create a powerful and positive immune response to our physical and mental health.
“It is Likely that the immune function is influenced by spiritual well-being.”
-Dr. Harold Koenig
Older adults 65 and over can benefit joining senior clubs or going to a bingo night. Longevity increased just as much as some exercise studies published in the British Medical Journey.
According to another study out of Harvard of 56,436 female medical school students 55 -72 years of age-- showed isolated individuals were less responsive to a hepatitis b vaccine than those who had close ties to family and friends.
Even more interesting news------ weekly support groups for women struggling to become pregnant prove beneficial! Alice Domar, PhD, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School studied 184 women seeking to conceive. The women attended support groups were more than twice as likely to get pregnant. It worked so well; the controlled study of women dropped out to join the groups.
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