Hello, health enthusiasts, and welcome to Rev Up Health, your go-to podcast for all things wellness. I'm Dr. Mark Hechler, and I'm Tandi Hechler. Together we're here to fuel your health journey with the best of functional medicine and holistic well-being. Each episode, we'll dive deep into topics that matter to your health, bringing you the latest insights, research, and inspiring stories. Whether you're on a quest for vibrant health or just looking for daily health tips, we've got you covered. So let's embark on this journey together and transform the way you live. So, Tandi, what's on our wellness radar for today?
Hello, and welcome to today's podcast. Today we're going to be talking about community, and that's something we're really trying to achieve with Revelation Health and Wellbeing, with Rev Up Health and the social media we're doing. We're really looking to create this community where people can come together. We want to encourage folks to come together, but also to build associations with more like-minded people. As you'll find out in our discussions, like-minded people tend to navigate together, and they also tend to benefit off of each other by having friendships and relationships.
Community Matters
The first thing to know is that community is really important. It's great to be at a place in your life where you're really comfortable with yourself and you like the time you spend on your own, but community can really provide so much additional depth and benefit.
They've done a lot of studies on the role that social relationships and community involvement play in health and the improvement and extension of health in general. Multiple studies, on hundreds of thousands of participants, show that stronger social relationships have a 50% increase in survival rates compared to those with weaker social interactions. That basically rivals — they mimic that to rival — the effect of smoking. So, just as stopping smoking increases your survival, so does having social interactions and relationships with folks.
Wisdom From the Blue Zones
The Blue Zones studies have noted a difference in community in those areas. Blue Zone folks are essentially individuals of an advanced age — communities where there's an older population living to 100 or older in that area. That community has a higher percentage of folks who live to 100. There are a lot of reasons for that, which we go through in podcasts throughout the time we have these, but one of the biggest things is that social connection they have — they have a huge social connection.
Even with mental health and mental disease, there's a four-times likelihood of having depression if you don't have the social interactions you need, especially in the elderly population — that's a big deal. Individuals who engage in these social groups and activities are just more likely to participate in health-promoting activities. So it's important to get involved — getting involved is also healthy.
Social Ties and Brain Health
A Harvard study found that strong social ties could promote brain health as we age too. The lack of social bonds is associated with increased levels of stress and inflammation. So, a few different ways to look at it, but it increases your stress and inflammation if you're not socially involved.
It's kind of hard to understand that sometimes, but these interactions are very important. If you're able to use your brain, use your mind, and use those thought processes, you keep the nerves working better and keep things sharper. Developing new skills and new activities — things that require thought and movement — there are studies that show it's not just about increasing thought by doing crossword puzzles, but doing activities that train your brain and move your body at the same time exponentially increases that level of health and really helps maintain the brain.
Accountability Through Connection
Another interesting thing: oftentimes we have a hard time keeping promises to ourselves and keeping ourselves accountable, but when we make a promise to a friend or someone else, we're more likely to go do that thing we said we were going to do. If it was just ourselves, we might say, "Oh, I'm just not going to do that today." It keeps you accountable.
How Community Changes as You Age
Something that's been coming up a lot is how community changes as you age — it's a really fascinating thing how your community changes as you grow and age. You're not going to run around with your buddies at the bar if you're 70 or 80 years old — maybe you do, but maybe it's more card games, dancing events, or pickleball. Everybody knows pickleball is a big thing right now. Those types of things are community-based and social interactions.
Looking back at the communities I've had — when you're in school, you've got your school friends, and then as you start working, you've got friends at work; that's kind of where you're meeting people. Then you get married and you've got friends you bring together in that relationship, and then you bring kids into the picture, and your kids' friends' parents are part of it, depending on what community you live in.
Even the work environment makes a difference. If you're in a line of work where you're by yourself — maybe you're at home doing remote work — you don't necessarily have that social interaction. So a line of work can make a big difference in your interaction. That's especially true since COVID — that's even more present than it probably was prior, because there's a lot more remote and working from home.
Empty-Nesting and New Chapters
Recently we've become empty nesters, and that's a whole other thing. When you have kids at home, you're going to the events — they're so involved in sports or school-related activities, and that's where you'd see other adults, for instance the parents of the other children. So you lose that social interaction as they age, and it changes your interactions.
It gets to be — I'll speak for myself here — harder to make friends as you get older, just because there's not as much opportunity to meet new people. I've had different workout places I've gone where I've been able to make friends. That's something you like — working out in a group, or having a community of involvement where you work out. But on the other end of that, I actually like to work out alone or run alone; I'm not much of a social butterfly when it comes to exercise. Well, would you be, if there was someone potentially? Yes. And the benefit of that, like we talked about, is keeping you honest — you have a commitment, and it keeps you going and on track with your health goal. I'd agree with that. I think you might enjoy working out with other people, while still doing some things on your own.
If anybody's into long-distance running at a pretty quick pace, this is your guy right here. No — it's called raw distance running, and struggling as you go. It's hard to speak sometimes when you're having off social conversations while I'm trying to get up the hill in the 90-degree heat.
Community Within Relationships
Another piece of community, as we're talking about it, is in relationships. Obviously we have worked together — we are working together less now than we ever have, probably, except for at the very beginning — but we like hanging out together, because we spend a lot of time together. Well, we've got this business together, so we better like hanging out.
It is interesting to think about — we do enjoy hanging out with other couples who like to do the same things we like to do, and working on those relationships. It's important to remind yourself to get out there, even past where we are, into retirement. We have friends and family members who have retired, and what a transition. We have a friend who recently retired, and somebody was telling them, "Oh, congratulations, you've retired — are you excited?" and she was kind of like, "Well, it's kind of like somebody died." So it's a big transition. You're going from a place where you're seeing these people at work, and then you're not anymore, so you really have to be mindful about creating that space and interaction.
It's really not easy to find other couples or individuals who have gotten to that stage in their life where they've retired, or they don't have children anymore. There are a lot of parts to the puzzle that create difficulty interacting with those individuals from a social environment. But there again, you can always have areas of interest that raise conversation. Even for you, learning to fly opened up a whole new world of different friends for you to meet. And as I get better playing that banjo, I might just get me a gig going — get me a band gig and we'll be traveling. There we go.
Keeping Connected With Your Family
It's also important to remember that even relationships with your family change as you all age. Your children are aging too, and they're becoming their own people, getting their own interests and liking their own things. It's so important to be mindful about how you keep that connection, because it's going to be more work than it was when your kids were just living at home, playing by your rules and doing the sports.
I've found this to be very true as my kids have grown — looking for things that we both enjoy doing. I like to walk and go outside and do those types of things, and I have a daughter for whom that isn't the funnest thing, so I have to look for things we can both enjoy together. Thank goodness we like being outside and being active, so it makes it a little easier for us to motivate each other to get moving.
The Role of Pets
Then there's the role of pets — a whole other scenario. Whether it's dogs or cats — I'm more the dog kind of person — they tend to motivate you from a responsibility standpoint, but also you want them to be healthy and active. They like to be outside and run and play, and so you start meeting other individuals. We did have a point when we had one dog that did not like walks and one dog that loves walks, so that makes it a little difficult — it cuts the walk short for the one dog. So it's not just a people problem. And it's not just about four-legged animals either — we've got chickens too, so they created a little more responsibility. More ways than one.
Having pets gets you out to the dog park, and there are other folks there who are active and like to be outside with their pets too, so you get to meet people that way also.
The Ripple Effect on Health
Social interactions really make a big difference on your physical health and your mental health — two things that are real important and somewhat get overlooked. It's not just having a relationship or a friend you can text or call; it's about getting out, seeing them, and being more active, and that just improves your overall quality.
And accountability — that's such a big piece. We talked about that in another podcast about your healthcare and being accountable for your own health. This is another layer of that, where you can help each other be accountable for the things that are going to help you along the way to being more healthy and getting those healthy habits ingrained. Keeping that activity going, keeping that social interaction and conversation, is going to keep your mind sharp, keep you physically active, and, very importantly, reduce your likelihood of depression — because when we get older, you get isolated, and isolation can really create a lot of mental health problems for folks. Like COVID did, yeah, for sure.
Be Proactive About Connection
The other piece of this is so aligned with all the other areas of health: the more proactive you are, and the earlier you are at being proactive, the easier it is. So be intentional about creating friendships — that makes a huge difference. It's not always easy to get out there and put that foot forward, and a lot of folks feel uncomfortable, but getting out of your comfort zone might just change things for you.
You find that in a lot of different areas — for me this is absolutely the truth — the idea of doing something, it may feel like, "Oh, do I really want to do this?" and then once I do it, I'm totally happy. Whether it's a race or a physical event, or simply a volunteer event — go down to the food pantry and pass things out. We met at medical missions events, on the other side of the Earth, and in those situations you wouldn't have the opportunities you have if you didn't go volunteer for those charitable events.
Building Community Locally and Worldwide
So there are lots of ideas, tips, and tricks of things you can do locally in your community, and even worldwide — creating connection, meeting people, and then going to visit and travel, and that's a whole new thing. It's fun to see them at similar events you continue to go back to and participate in, and you get to catch up. It's very fun.
Ultimately, as we go through all of these different things, community is really big for your social health, and social health is a big part of your overall health. Socializing may not come easy for people, but once it's initiated, and you work at it a little bit, it becomes very easy and very natural — and it's also very healthy.
So we're putting it out there: we want to meet people who are interested in the things we're interested in. If that's you, reach out — we'd love to connect. And we'd love to offer resources too. Maybe we're not your cup of tea, and that's okay, but maybe there's a way to make some connections with people who are your cup of tea.
We hope you learned something, we hope you'll get involved, and we hope you'll think about your own social life — and maybe the social life of your spouse or significant other, or your kids or family. Think about that, and keep that interaction going forward. Keep positive. I think you're going to find out that in the long run, it's going to benefit you in many different ways, and we know it's going to create a healthier life for you. So have a healthy day. We look forward to talking with anybody, and we'll see you at the next podcast.
Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Rev Up Health. We hope you're leaving with some valuable insights to supercharge your health journey. Don't forget to follow or subscribe to Rev Up Health wherever you listen to your podcasts, and if you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a rating and review. Have a topic you want us to explore? Reach out to us on our social media channels — we love hearing from our wellness community. Until next time, keep thriving, and remember: your journey to health is a journey to a better you. Stay well, and we'll connect with you again soon. This is Tandi, and this is Dr. Mark, signing off from Rev Up Health. Take care.
The information provided in this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. The content is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient and their healthcare provider. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your healthcare regimen, including diet, exercise, or treatment plans. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Revelation Health and Wellbeing.