The studies
Humans are social creatures. It seems intuitive that talking to other people should increase our feelings of happiness and social connectedness. Many studies show the negative effects of loneliness on health and happiness. Previous studies have also found that we are happier when interacting socially, but most of these studies have used only self-reported measures.
Hanging out with family and friends not only can be fun, but research also shows it benefits your mental and physical health. Dr. Craig Sawchuk, a Mayo Clinic psychologist, agrees that socializing is key to good health.
“Socializing is good for your mind and body and makes you happier!” Also, “We are social animals by nature, so we tend to function better when we’re in a community and being around others.”
He adds that people who spend a lot of time alone, such as the elderly or new moms, may have an increased risk of depression and lower quality of life. You don’t have to be supersocial to see benefits of connecting with others.
“Just being able to shoot the breeze, you know, about certain things can be a very, very positive type of thing,” Dr. Sawchuk says.
Previous research
Research has shown that people feel happier when interacting with others and that happy people interact more with others. Similar results were found in the current study. People who had more social interactions were happier on average than those who interacted less. People also felt happier and more socially connected when they spoke to others in the past hour, compared to when they did not. The amount of social interaction during the hour also made a difference. The more time people spent interacting socially during the hour, the happier they felt. In other words, someone who spoke to others for 40 minutes was happier during the hour than someone who spoke for only 10 minutes during that 60-minute period.
Introverts vs extroverts
With regard to introversion versus extraversion, this didn’t seem to make much of a difference. Both introverts and extraverts were happier when they interacted socially than when they did not. But introverts seemed to be especially happy when they were having more in-depth conversations.
Other benefits
Socializing not only staves off feelings of loneliness, but also it helps sharpen memory and cognitive skills. Also, it increases your sense of happiness and well-being and may even help you live longer. In-person is best, but connecting via technology also works.
“There’s an opportunity for some protective effects or some beneficial effects of being able to use technology to bring socialization to individuals rather than putting it on the individual to seek it out themselves,” Dr. Sawchuk says.
Source: psychologytoday.com©
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