Do you want to live longer, healthier and more happy? Then cultivate your social connections

Social scientist Casley Cylam has always been fascinated by the science of human relationship. In college, for example, she once decided to conduct a personal experiment and perform an act of kindness every day for 108 days. At Harvard Th Chan School of Public Health, she explores solutions to loneliness. At Google’s Health Spinoff, her job was to unite people to promote social health. “For the first time, I came across the term” Social Health “during my research in Stanford, where I was developing an application around the human connection,” says Kilam. “Since then, all my work has gone through the lens of the connection.”

Before her main speech of Cable health Later, this month, Klam explains why social health is the missing factor in human health. This interview is edited for length and clarity.

Cable: Traditionally, human health is divided into a physical and mental component. But you make the case that the third pillar – social health – must be introduced. Why is that?

Kasley Killam: The reason why I think it is so important to raise and distinguish social health is that the relationship has such a huge impact on our health, but it is still neglected and undervalued. If you look at all the data is incredibly the extent to which it influences and determines our healthours happinessand ours longevityS The connection is not some touching bicycle; It affects how long we have lived. Social health deserves to rise from the shadows and stand high in the spotlight, because it is much more important than we realize.

In your book, The art and science of the relationshipYou point out that the lack of social connections increases the risk of various diseases, from stroke to dementia. An amazing finding you quote to you is that we are two to three times more likely to die in the next decade if our relationship is missing, regardless of ours mental and physical health. This is comparable in reality with regular smoking and excessive drinking, obesity and physically inactive. What happens to our bodies when we are lonely, which leads to such bad results?

One of the leading theories is this idea of ​​stress buffer. If you think of hunger or thirst, these are different signals that our bodies give us as a useful way to understand that we lack something we need. Loneliness is one of these signals. But when it is chronic, it becomes a problem. Chronic loneliness, just like chronic stress, ultimately increases cortisol, inflammation and weakens our immune system. We need other people to survive, so chronic loneliness is literally registered as a threat. In contrast, when you have a supportive relationship, it soothes your body and you can manage stress easier. The connection is a basic need that our bodies understand.

You call the present state of our collective social health for public health. Many agree with you: In 2023, the US General Surgeon issued advisory For our epidemic of loneliness and isolation and the WHO has created a Social Relationship CommitteeS What do you define as the main causes of this crisis?

Exclusion is a real crisis that is talked about. But there is also an overcoming, where we are actually more connected than ever, but not in meaningful ways. We have to deal with both. There are many factors that have contributed to the status quo, and one we have to call is the technology and social mediaS This is something that I have become more worried about in recent years. Technological tools must complement the real human connection. But at the moment, many of them are designed as substitutes or as crutches. AI is an example. Millions of people use AI as a substitute for a romantic partner or friend. It bothers me a lot.