I'm sure many of you have recently discovered how important being social can impact your emotions and sanity, but did you know it's also an important aspect of your health?
Whether it's through your relationships with strangers, peers, extended family, or your significant other, your social wellness is affected by an abundance or a lack of these daily interactions.
What is Social Wellness?
The global wellness institute defines social wellness as connecting and interacting with people and the community.
A healthy social life can help you to stay positive and feel supported. A positive social life and social network assists with not only mental, but also physical health.
Studies show that positive social ties may also help reduce stress by reducing heart rate and blood pressure. Hospital stays have also been shown to decrease and recovery rates have shown to be higher in patients with a strong support network.
Supporting others has also shown to have a positive effect on the person who is giving support. In this study, they show how acting as a social support to someone else can increase longevity, reduce stress and depression, and increase confidence and self-esteem.
We Were Made To Be Social, but what happens when social support is lacking?
When Our Social Needs Aren't Met
The worldwide crisis of COVID has brought to light what it feels like to be isolated. Many people have gone through serious boughts of depression, anxiety, and feelings of hopelessness.
In turn, depression affects the body through insomnia, decreased energy, decreased ability to move and speak, lack of appetite, and headaches.
But many have managed to cope through COVID quarantine by support from, and by giving support to others. Studies showed that one of the biggest predictors of mental health was social support!
So how are we supposed to increase our social wellness in situations like this?
Social Practices While Social Distancing
This past year, social wellness has become an important concern for many of us due to social restrictions, and safety precautions. It is important that we are able to foster our connections, despite circumstances. For me particularly, the hardest thing to deal with was not being able to see my grandmother, but we had to work to find alternative solutions that kept us in touch.
Things are starting to seem like they will get a little more normal, but in the meantime, there are many ways to support each other and still feed our social lives including:
Sending cards to friends and family
Spending time with those who you live with
Meeting new people through virtual classes
Setting up watch parties online with friends
Trying a fitness challenge with other family members
Remember What's Important
Even though you might still be stuck working from home, (with that same certain someone and they are driving you crazy), remember to appreciate those you do have around you.
So grab some board games, set up a virtual movie watching session, get on FaceTime, and spend time from a distance, till you can completely in person!
What about you guys? How have you managed to maintain healthy relationships the past year? How have you fostered your social relationships?
I have suffered from anxiety and depression for years. Social interaction is extremely important to sustain a well balanced outlook on life. Thank God for family and friends and the conversations and visits. It helps a lot for mental well-being especially during the current situation of Covid-19.
It is quite a challenge to be socially well especially when you have no place to go like during these COVID times. I have never experienced this type of situation in my life. Once you step into this cycle it so hard to get out. Things like clothes you wear, makeup, hair styles are not so important when you don’t go anywhere. Holidays aren’t very exciting. How is everyone else, doing ? We appear to be getting closer to things like going out to eat, going to the movies, or traveling. Or maybe seeing an old friend or family member that you haven’t seen in well over a year?
As an extrovert, I've found the quarantine a little hard to take. But I've been so thankful for my "Bubble!" I've also been thankful that I'm learning how to stave off depression even through isolation. (Hint: exercise REALLY helps!!!)
I never have been one to sink into depression or mope about unhappy. This isolation has been difficult as I’m a very social being and family is everything to me. To exerbate the feelings of isolation my loving golden retriever died on the night in January. She was only seven and seemed healthy. It was a blow I didn’t need. Face time with loved ones has been so important. Rare garage brief visits have helped. I agree we need each other and have to find ways to make it happen if we want a healthy mind. Thanks for the reminder to reach out.