Social Connection & Men's Health - The Other Basic Need

By: Logan Cohen, Professional Therapist & Online Life Coach

Western Medicine is slowly, but surely picking up on the fact that our social connection (coined “love and belonging needs” by Abraham Maslow) are essential to both our physical AND mental health. This article in the New York Times speaks to not only the importance of basic physical and mental self-care, but also how fundamental adequate Human connection to our fellow Man is SO essential to making it all come together. Here is just one example of the helpful information shared in the mass of scientific research accumulated around these topics:

“In a study of 7,000 men and women in Alameda County, Calif., begun in 1965, Lisa F. Berkman and S. Leonard Syme found that “people who were disconnected from others were roughly three times more likely to die during the nine-year study than people with strong social connection,” John Robbins recounted in his marvelous book on health and longevity, Healthy at 100.

Social connection is a vital basic need for our bodies on both of physical and mental level. Men's health relies on satisfaction of these basic needs for basic levels of functioning to be expected.

Throughout these research studies, it has been found that regardless of gender, age, race, or even healthcare practices and current physical health status… “those with close social connection and unhealthful lifestyles (including smoking and lack of exercise) actually lived longer than those with poor social connection but more healthy living habits.” With this being said, it is also important to add that, “Needless to say, people with both healthy lifestyles and close social connection lived the longest of them all.”

Statistics also include compelling information from a Duke University study that showed people suffering from serious medical conditions were 2.4 times more likely to die when in social isolation. That is 240% more likely with a lack of social connection!

Men's health has direct benefits from social connection on a MOLECULAR level.

People lacking in social connection are likely to have elevated levels of psychological stress, which in turn elevates levels of cortisol and other inflammation producing chemicals in the bloodstream. From there, levels of inflammation raise throughout the body to nearly EVERY bodily system - including the brain, which you guessed it…will reinforce the WHOLE cycle on it’s own.

We can see how important maintaining a adequate social connection is not only to our mental health, but also integral components of our Men's health that relate directly to our longevity. Our Lives can be so busy these days that it can make it difficult to Balance rich social connections with the rest of our day-to-day demands.

Would you like to know what a healthy and Balanced social connection looks like in this day and age? And even more importantly, how to develop and maintain them without throwing the rest of your life out of whack?

Men's health is impacted negatively with loneliness. It's just not natural and it doesn't have to stay that way. We want to help you with social connection.

My name is Logan Cohen and I am a Professional Therapist & Life Coach with over 10 years in the field of Counseling Psychology. I am a Clinical Supervisor for the American Association of Marriage & Family Therapy, as well as the founder of New Leaf Counseling Group, LLC in Charlotte, NC. After spending tens of thousands of clinical hours with my own clients, starting a successful group practice, as well as a beautiful Family, I “picked my head up from the grindstone” to check in on childhood Friends & Loved Ones.

I painfully discovered that more than a few of my childhood Friends passed away at a young age from preventable health conditions and decided that as a Man, Husband, Father, and Friend, I could no longer stand by as People suffered in silence and self-destructed rather than ask for help. It doesn’t have to be like that and the holistic healing methods offered by the Balanced Man Plan is designed to help People “get unstuck” and break free from old patterns that are the barriers between Self & quality of Life.

The Balanced Man Plan is a therapeutic digital experience delivered through Self-Guided Coaching Plans created by a Male Therapist with the common barriers & strengths of Men in mind. The Balanced Man Plan has the goal of introducing a natural Balance back to Life so it is sustainable for the optimal Health & Well-Being of Self and Loved Ones - and ALL from the privacy and comfort of Home. If you have enjoyed what you see so far, check out our Self Guided Coaching Plans!