Effects of Social Interaction on Individual Health and Lifestyle

1 Effects of Social Interaction on Individual Health and Lifestyle The basic social interaction of an individual is with family, friends and the community.

These three forms of interactions can influence the health and lifestyle of an individual both positively and negatively. Arguably, the health status of an individual is a reflection of the health state, practices and behaviors of those around them. This paper explores how family, friends and community impact individual health and lifestyle.

Positive Impacts Family, friends and the community offer support that is much needed for the general health and wellbeing of an individual. Support improves resilience and endurance in disease contributing to better health outcomes. Individuals benefit from the support of family and friends through advices and acts of love and care. This contributes to improved behavioral, physiological and psychosocial wellbeing (Thomas et al., 2017). The community provides support by providing a sense of belonging, connections and services that eventually promotes health.

Second, family friends and community play an integral role in regulating unhealthy behaviors. As part of these social groups, an individual may be restricted from indulging in risky health behaviors.

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For example, family, friends, and the community could be against drug and substance abuse, thereby influencing an individual against their use. In the same way, healthy lifestyle habits from these social groups can easily be picked up and practiced by an individual (Sriram et al., 2018).

Social groups are custodians of great information. As part of the social system, an individual is bound to learn from others. Whether it is from family, friends, or members of the community, one is able to benefit from health education and practices that can positively impact an individual's health. This includes information on healthy lifestyle practices, preventive care, utilization of health resources, and disease management, among others.

Negative Impacts In as much as family, friends and the community can positively influence the health and wellbeing of a person; they could also encourage unhealthy lifestyle habits. An individual is more likely to share or borrow unhealthy lifestyle habits from their immediate family and friends (Sriram et al., 2018). This can vary from drug abuse to poor dieting and lack of enough physical exercises. All these habits have detrimental effects on one’s health as it increases their risk of chronic secondary complications. The same applies at the community level as one can be influenced to indulge in unsafe health habits within the community.

Being part of a certain family or community may influence the health seeking habits of an individual. For example, in certain cultures, gender disparities exist, which can limit women from seeking healthcare services. A woman in a certain household may be barred from visiting a health facility or be required to do such visits accompanied by a male companion, affecting the quality of assessments. Some communities attach beliefs on certain illnesses creating stigma

3 which eventually prevents an individual from getting diagnosed early or managing the condition as expected.

Last, problematic relationships between an individual with his family, friends, and the community negatively impact health and general well-being. This can result in physical and emotional turmoil, causing depression, social withdrawal, anxiety and poor physical and social development (Thomas et al., 2017). Unsupportive friends, families, and communities may also increase the deterioration rate and lead to poorer health outcomes in sick or frail individuals.

Conclusion An individual can benefit positively or negatively from their social interactions.

Understanding a person's family, friends and community can help predict the negative and positive influence they can adapt. This eventually impacts their health and lifestyle practices.

4 References Sriram, U., Morgan, E. H., Graham, M. L., Folta, S. C., & Seguin, R. A. (2018). Support and sabotage: a qualitative study of social influences on health behaviors among rural adults. The Journal of Rural Health, 34(1), 88-97.

Thomas, P. A., Liu, H., & Umberson, D. (2017). Family Relationships and WellBeing. Innovation in aging, 1(3), igx025. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igx025