Healthy friends and responsible individuals

Posted by on Jul 28, 2010 in behaviour change, Science, Social Influence | 2 Comments

Nice piece on the wires today which echoes a lot of John Cacioppa's brilliant book Loneliness:

Low social interaction turns out to be a significant health risk

"Equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day

Equivalent to being an alcoholic

More harmful than not exercising

Twice as harmful as obesity"

Not hard to swallow if you believe that we are a supremely and fundamentally social creature, is it?

Compare and contrast the enlightened UK Health Minister who seems to believe that independent agency ("taking responsibility for your own health") is going to solve our various health challenges. More on that anon.