Social Health
October 31, 2024
In her recent book, The Connection Cure, author Julia Hotz suggests a new approach for doctors. Don’t ask your patients, “What’s the matter with you?”
Rather ask “What matters to you?”
Hotz asserts that our country practices pill-based medicine (not a bad thing in itself), but that there are other approaches to wellness that our doctors don’t typically prescribe.
She suggests that we talk more about social health or social fitness, health that comes from "connections". She advocates for “social prescribing.” In other words, get moving, spend some time in nature, with art, performing service and/or other activities that she calls “belonging.”
Absence of illness is not the same as presence of wellness. Purpose, optimism, mindfulness, relationships are part of social health.
What matters to you?
I hope the last thing that goes is my sense of humor. To me, acknowledging and accepting the absurdities of life are essental to being in touch with reality/sanity. We are constantly lectured about the need to exercise and adopt healthy lifestyles as we age. But I think of my grandmothers -- who never exerted themselves, and paid little attention to diet, yet reached late octegenarian status with minds intact. When I was born in 1942, life expectancy for a white male was 66 years. In that sense, I am way past my shelf-life, so I try to embrace each day, with gratitude and a smile. The key is being social, having a reason to get out of bed and get dressed every day, appreciating people who are fun to be with and avoiding the toxic ones when you can.
Posted by: Dennis N | November 01, 2024 at 12:05 PM