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Need for Connection
Evidence
As highly social creatures, humans often thrive on close relationships that provide mutual care. This need may drive us to spend meaningful time with others, share experiences, and cultivate trust and empathy. When we foster genuine connection, we gain emotional support and joy in companionship, and we build resilience through having others to lean on during difficult times.
Details about the rewritten claim
Forming strong social connections has profound benefits for both mental and physical health. Extensive research suggests that the quality and quantity of one’s social relationships are linked not only to psychological well-being but also to longevity and disease risk. In a large meta-analysis of 148 studies, individuals with richer social connections had about a 50% greater likelihood of survival over the study periods than those who were more isolated (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2010). In fact, the protective effect of social connection on mortality was found to be comparable to well-known health factors like not smoking and maintaining a healthy weight. Strong interpersonal connection provides emotional support, buffers stress, and contributes to greater life satisfaction, whereas lack of connection (loneliness) is associated with higher risks of depression and physical illness.
Supporting sources
- Holt-Lunstad et al. (2010) meta-analysis linking strong social connection to survival (https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316)
Strategies
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Play a social video game
Some games involve other human interactions, corporatize games are sometimes called “PVE” (player vs environment) but other games that have compelling fictional characters could also be nice. Similar to reading a book you can build relationships with the characters and find connection in relating to their experience.
Read a character driven novel
When we read a book the world and it’s inhabitants can feel especially personal. We can build very powerful connections this way and can go a long way in helping us feel less alone in the world. It’s okay for those relationships to mean so much to us, that’s why the author worked so hard on them <3
One kind text
Send “Thinking of you—no need to reply.” to someone you trust.
Specific thank-you
Send a short note naming one action someone did and how it supported you.
Add a strategy
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