In an era in which an increasing number of people report feeling lonely, a University of Guelph researcher says a lack of social connections has serious impacts on our health.
Dr. Shayna Skakoon-Sparling, an applied social psychology researcher in the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, joined a team of nearly 100 researchers from across Canada to examine social connections and create new guidelines for helping people in Canada improve their social networks.
Dr. Shayna Skakoon-Sparling
The guidelines, issued by the Canadian Alliance for Social Connection and Health and GenWell, are designed to work just like our familiar recommendations for diet and exercise in Canada, in this case helping people prioritize and enhance social connections.
"It's really important that we start thinking about how we can improve social connection and decrease loneliness if we want to have a population that lives longer and healthier lives," Skakoon-Sparling says.
"People with a strong sense of social connection are happier and healthier, they take better care of their health , but they also are less likely to have serious health complications."
While contributing to the guidelines, Skakoon-Sparling drew on her expertise studying social connections among queer people. She says it's important to make access to social support and community connection equitable.
"We need to recognize the systemic factors that get in the way of some folks building a strong network of social connections and that contribute to feelings of loneliness," she says.
"We paid special attention to the experiences of a wide variety of marginalized populations, to make sure that the guidelines would work for anyone, not just people who easily fit in with mainstream society. Everyone deserves to feel connected to other people."
To help build more social connections, Skakoon-Sparling suggests the simple act of reaching out to others and scheduling time to get together.
"This doesn't mean you have to be an extroverted social butterfly with plans every other day of the week, but you need to pay attention to how much social contact you need to feel good and you need to make concrete plans to build and maintain the number of strong bonds that makes you feel good."
The guidelines suggest people can take steps to improve their connections by making socializing a priority and building a strong network with a variety of relationships.
The full social connection guidelines can be found online.
