This article is a call to action.
Keep Health’s 11th step in the Hierarchy of Needs for Increased Healthspan is social wellness, caring about the health of your friends, family and co-workers. When you’ve become a role model for good health, others see that change and cautiously express interest. You can support them. This has multiple benefits. When your social network is practicing healthy behaviors, it makes it easier for you to do the same. Studies show you receive health benefits from giving help to others. These include:
- Greater happiness and satisfaction
- Lower blood pressure and stress levels
- Increased self-esteem and less depression
- Longer life
Helping others can be difficult though. Reaching out to your family, friends and colleagues about improving their health takes courage. Initially, it is uncomfortable. You may feel awkward. Public speaking is at the top of America’s list of fears and phobias. Encouraging others to improve their health is likely similar.
America is built on a spirit of independence where people make their own choices. We are all going to die at some point, so why bother trying to change how or how soon that happens for others? However, there is social acceptance to:
- take the keys away from drunk people to prevent them from driving.
- support public health campaigns to discourage smoking and vaping.
- stop people from actions which cause obvious and near-term harm.
Are you ready to take on something more subtle, the slow decline in quality of life from behaviors which accelerate aging? (i.e. missing out on regular high quality sleep, using antibiotic sanitizers, failing to stretch to stay flexible, avoiding good periodontal care…) Helping your social network understand why these are so important is critical to their health.
Fortunately, there are quick and simple actions which do not require public speaking or even directly speaking with our family members, friends and colleagues. Today, we rely on social media to spare us the awkwardness of being physically present. 🙂
So yes, we are asking you to use social media to share Keep.Health’s articles with your family, friends and colleagues. Consider it your gift to those you care about. Most importantly, also consider it a gift to yourself. In your advanced years with your increased healthspan and hopefully lifespan, you’ll want to continue having fun with your social network. For that to happen, encourage them to Keep Health, too.
Please take 15 minutes now to email and post on your favorite social network sites (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), encouraging your colleagues, friends and family to subscribe to Keep.Health.