Joining In & Joining Up is good for you: here's how we know

There's a large body of hard evidence that says how you fit into your community is just as important for your health as anything you do yourself. Exercising is good for you, eating well is good for you, but neither of them is as good for you as having a supportive network of family, friends, and colleagues to interact with.

Social integration leads to reduced mortality risks, and to a better state of mental and physical health. Social isolation lowers your immune function, socially supportive interactions have the opposite effect. Volunteering boosts your health and your sense of wellbeing.

People stay healthy if they have confidence in their friends and their work and their lives. Social bonds help us understand the world as coherent and meaningful.

Join in, Join up!

You'll live longer, in better health, and you'll be making a contribution that you can be proud of. Everybody wins.

The Evidence:

"Controlling for your blood chemistry, age, gender, whether or not you jog, and for all other risk factors, your chances of dying over the course of the next year are cut in half by joining one group, and cut to a quarter by joining two groups."

Still need convincing? Check these sources:

Cohen S, Doyle WJ, Skoner DP, et al., 1997, Social ties and susceptibility to the common cold. Journal of the American Medical Association, 277(24):1940-1944.
Eng PM, Rimm EB, Fitzmaurice G, Kawachi I, 2002, Social ties and change in social ties in relation to subsequent total and cause-specific mortality and coronary heart disease incidence in men, Am J Epidemiol. 155(8):700-9.
Kawachi I &Berkmann L, 2000, "Social cohesion, social capital and health", in Berkmann, L. and Kawachi, I. (eds.), Social Epidemiology, New York, OUP
Mattsson B &Mattsson M, 1988, To sing in a choir and be healthy--which are the mediating mechanisms?Scand J Soc Med. 26(3):238
Putnam R, 2001, Social Capital Measurement and Consequences, Canadian Journal of Policy Research, 2(1):41-51
Piliavin JA&Siegl E, 2007, Health benefits of volunteering in the Wisconsin longitudinal study, J Health Soc Behav. 48(4):450-64.
Rodriguez-Laso A, Zunzunegui MV, Otero A, 2007, The effect of social relationships on survival in elderly residents of a Southern European community: a cohort study, BMC Geriatr. 1;7:19
Seeman TE, 1996, Social ties and health: the benefits of social integration,Ann Epidemiol. 6(5):442-51