The Connection Prescription: Using the Power of Social Interactions and the Deep Desire for Connectedness to Empower Health and Wellness

Abstract

Social connection is a pillar of lifestyle medicine. Humans are wired to connect, and this connection affects our health. From psychological theories to recent research, there is significant evidence that social support and feeling connected can help people maintain a healthy body mass index, control blood sugars, improve cancer survival, decrease cardiovascular mortality, decrease depressive symptoms, mitigate posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, and improve overall mental health. The opposite of connection, social isolation, has a negative effect on health and can increase depressive symptoms as well as mortality. Counseling patients on increasing social connections, prescribing connection, and inquiring about quantity and quality of social interactions at routine visits are ways that lifestyle medicine specialists can use connection to help patients to add not only years to their life but also health and well-being to those years.

Keywords: connection; friendships; healthy habits; lifestyle medicine; loneliness; social life.

Figure 1.

Comparison of odds (ln OR) of decreased mortality across several conditions associated with mortality. Note: Effect size of zero indicates no effect. The effect sizes were estimated from meta analyses: A = Shavelle et al, 2008; B = Critchley and Capewell, 2003; C = Holman et al, 1996; D = Fine et al, 1994; E = Taylor et al, 2004; F, G = Katzmarzyk et al, 2003; H = Insua et al, 1994; I = Schwartz, 1994. Reprinted from Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Layton JB. Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. PLoS Med. 2010;7(7):e1000316. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316.