Social Closening (yes, that is a word); Running in Somaliland

Relationships matter, particularly now, when we are being asked to keep physical distance between each other.  Exercise is important for our immune systems–which is why I continue to encourage you to run and do your core and cross training.  I want you all to stay healthy, as well as being ready to crush the track when we are back together!  However, our relationships might be just as important to our health as exercise.

In an analysis of 148 different studies conducted over eight years which followed more than 300,000 people, researchers found that positive social relationships gave people a 50% better chance of surviving over time, compared to people with weak social ties.  The scientists concluded that connectedness had a bigger impact on mortality than quitting smoking!

This conclusion makes sense to me intuitively.  The people my age and older with friends around them, laughing and happy, also seem to be healthier and more active.  You can make all the arguments about correlation vs. causation that you want, but my personal experience in connectedness makes me inclined to believe what the scientists found in their studies.

What does that mean for us?

We have a big advantage–we have a strong social group of more than 100 athletes and coaches that have chosen to be together, and have been working together for weeks this season before the school shut down.  For some of the seniors, Coach John, Coach Johnson, and myself, we have been together for four years.   We have strong, supportive relationships that are based on shared activities and goals.  Now we need to keep these relationships active.

The phone can be your lifeline.  Yes, texts and Discord and Insta can help.  But realtime, verbal interaction makes a difference.  Maybe you want to set a personal goal to get on the phone and talk to two teammates a day (and maybe a grandparent too!).  

In every really bad group situation I’ve experienced, from company meltdowns to 9/11, people do want to come together and help each other.  While we have to practice safe physical social distancing, we can also safely practice emotional social closening–leading us to both physical and mental health.  Keep checking in on your teammates and friends, these relationships are good for all of us.

(I was inspired by an article in the Washington Post and used their references to the meta-study I mentioned about, and I stole quite a few ideas.  Thanks Amanda Ripley (author of The Unthinkable:  Who Survives When Disaster Strikes–and Why), you were more eloquent than me and you found the science to back up our intuition!)

Running in Somaliland

I found this article on women running in Somililand very interesting–and extremely inspiring.  What we are going through right now is an obstacle to our running that we did not anticipate coming, we were totally blindsided.  But we have faith that these obstacles will go away before too long.  For these women, however…they grew up with their obstacles always existing, a part of their daily lives, and with no guarantee that the future will bring anything but perhaps a gradual improvement in their condition.  I thought this was a great piece!  I kind of want to go run that 10km, too.

Maybe you could call up a friend and talk about the article–a good reason to connect with a teammate!

I’d like to know what you think of the article, too.

Be well, stay connected, everyone!