I want to dedicate this article to all the extraordinary people and relationships that are part of my life: my family, friends, acquaintances, and those who also accompany us through social networks, even without knowing each other personally. I thank you all for the countless blessings and opportunities you offer me every day.
On this occasion, I would like to address the issue of the importance of human relationships, commenting on interesting scientific findings recently shared by the Mindfulness Association of Argentina. For example, the one carried out by the psychologist, author, and professor at Pepperdine University, Louis Cozolino maintains that relating to others would be the most important thing to survive and prosper.
Additionally, studies from Harvard University also reveal that people with greater interaction and social support tend to enjoy greater physical and mental health, cognitive performance, well-being, and longevity.
There is also some very shocking research showing a more than doubling of the mortality rate in men and women who do not enjoy social relationships. While bonding with others may promote longevity, even in people who smoke, drink, are overweight or obese, and engage in little physical activity. With this statement, I do not mean to underestimate in any way the importance of developing healthy habits, but I do want to highlight the incredibly positive impact that healthy relationships can have on our lives.
And this positive impact is so evident that other studies carried out in Asia have shown that when we relate affectively with others, we reduce our cortisol levels and respond better to stress, which contributes to increasing our well-being and prolonging our years of life.
The same Mindfulness Association of Argentina also mentions the study by the Welsh researcher and consultant David Snowden on the long-lived "School Sisters of Notre Dame", with which it was discovered that positive emotions contribute to achieving healthy aging. In this sense, Louis Cozolino himself found that positive emotions, which are experienced as a result of healthy and warm relationships, would have effects on the quality of our years of life. That is why the people with the longest lives are those with the greatest social ties and those who have given and received the most from others.
Most studies on relationships tend to affirm that relationships are essential to improve our health, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, stress, anxiety, and depression because they increase our self-esteem and empathy. Likewise, they improve cognitive abilities, enhance our ability to solve problems, and delay aging. This prolongs life, giving us a unique opportunity to open more doors and promote the achievement of our goals, increasing our well-being and happiness.
All this scientific evidence should motivate us to recognize and thank all the people with whom we have close or virtual ties on a day-to-day basis; for their invaluable contribution to our health, skills, well-being, and hopefully, our longevity as well.
In my case, fortunately, that list of thanks is quite extensive. So I sincerely hope that I am also making constructive and valuable contributions to their lives through my thoughts, words, and actions; because there is a growing desire to inspire and accompany them in this process of personal transformation so that we achieve what I believe is our mission on this planet: to be light, love and achieve happiness.
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