Get motivated to socialize

Overwork, changed circumstances, depression or loss of self-esteem can all lead to you neglecting your social life. Yet good social connections are vital to your wellbeing. It's great to be comfortable with your own company but too much isolation is a risk factor for developing psychological problems and also, it seems, physical health problems.

Health dangers of loneliness

Loneliness and social isolation is toxic. This is confirmed by insurance statistics and many research studies. One such study featured 972 medical students and classified them into different personality types. Thirty years later the former students health was tested. The results? The students classified as 'loners' had 16 times more cancer than the people who were more socially connected.

It seems that suicide, alcoholism and mental and physical illness rates are much higher among people living alone if they don't have a good social support network. (1)

Researchers found that it's not just a question of the mentally healthy being able to form more quality social ties but that the quantity and quality of social ties themselves act as a preventative to developing poorer mental health.

Modern life and social connection

In the United Kingdom single house holds are increasing and there are increasingly more single parents going it alone. (2) The extended family has often splintered meaning that more people have less contact with their families who may live hundreds of miles away. Many activities are solitary such as working on a computer. The popularity of social networking websites show how important it is for people to feel socially connected but they cannot replace the specific benefits engendered by actually seeing people.

Letting your social life slip

It's easy to forget that maintaining social life takes some effort and commitment. Regular contact needs to be maintained with people and there need to be regular dates to meet. Just relying on others to contact you wont do it.

And the better your social life becomes the more you'll be able to focus on work and other activities because the social side of your needs as a human being are taken care of. Having a healthy social life means you have more 'spare capacity' to function better in other spheres.

Improving things

This hypnotic session Socializing Motivation will use the gentle power of hypnosis to motivate you to nurture and maintain your social life to maximize its benefits for you physical and mental good health. Download Socializing motivation below and feel energized to get out there!

(1) A massive study of 4,725 randomly selected residents of Alameda County in California found that those with the fewest close friends, relatives and social connections had mortality rates that were two to three times higher than those with high levels of social connectedness. Also, life expectancy tables show a difference of nine years between people with very poor social connections and those with very good ones.

(2) More single households - between 1998 and 2003 single households in the UK grew by 8.7% and over the period to 2008 the number of single households are forecast to grow by a further 7.4% - meaning that single households are the fastest growing segment of households in the UK. This is a result of the growing number of 15-29 year olds; the growth in the number of people choosing to live alone; and couples starting families later or not having children at all. Source: Labour Market Survey, Office for National Statistics