Sharing – The Brain Benefits of Social Connection
Just stay connected to each other. It does so much good for yourself and the people you care about.
“We now know that our time spent engaging in social interactions may directly modify our brains. For example, our social interactions may activate neural circuits, helping keep them flexible. It’s also reported that spending time in meaningful social interactions may help boost cognitive reserve and mental resilience and offset the known brain-damaging effects of excess psychological stress. These types of data help to explain correlations between a lower risk of dementia and depression and more social engagement.”
This is why I harp on this quite a bit. We lose people to depression and mental health struggles when they are disconnected from the people in their lives. Our best prevention is to remain connected, yet it’s become so easy today to be disconnected from each other. (I am perhaps more guilty of this than most, I admit. I should spend more time taking action on the tips in this article too.)
I’ve said it many times, we have so many ways to stay in touch these days, and we somehow manage not to do it despite all the science that tells us how valuable it is. We’ve got to start seeing that as necessary, if not more so, than hustling for the next opportunity. Until we figure that out as a society, this will be a problem.
