Worth it to stay social, secure and smiling.

The Seniors Health Network each month poses a question to health-care professionals. This month, the following hypothetical question was posed to Louise Tremblay, BC Association of Community Response Networks:

“Everyone is talking about ‘social isolation’ and connectedness and I’m not sure what it all means and why it’s important for seniors.

Why should we develop meaningful connections?”

The idea that humans are social beings may be hackneyed, but it still has validity. We rely on social systems, either externally organized or personally designed, to live a good life which by one definition means to experience health, wealth, security, socialization, personal growth and service.

From childhood to adulthood, we navigate various phases of our existence. We grow up within a family unit; we go away to university and live on campus with other students; we get jobs and interact with co-workers and we find love and start families of our own – although not necessarily in that order.

All the while, we are mostly surrounded by people and have many opportunities for social connections, some of them very deep.

Then, we get older and life changes.

For more on this article, click here.

Courtesy Peacearch News