Social Wellness--What Does It Mean?
According to the 2024 Healthy Minds Monthly Poll from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) 30 percent of Americans aged 18-34 report they were lonely every day or several times a week. "Just like physical, psychological, and emotional health, social wellness plays a major role in your overall wellbeing," the APA poll states. "To be socially well means to nurture yourself and cultivate healthy relationships among family, friends, and co-workers. It also means giving and receiving social support so that when you are walking through a challenging time in your life, or even during a crisis, you have a strong support network."
According the the Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota, there are three types of social support:
- Emotional (sometimes called non-tangible) support refers to the actions people take to make someone else feel cared for.
- Instrumental support refers to the physical, such as money and housekeeping.
- Informational support means providing information to help someone.
The Bakken Center also reports that social wellness is important because "healthy relationships are a vital component of health. The health risks from being alone or isolated in one's life are comparable to those associated with cigarette smoking, blood pressure, and obesity."
Impact Communities offers a wide range of activities and programs for children and adults to help with all types of wellness. For more information, contact Wendy Luo, Health & Wellness Project Manager, wluo@impactcommunities.org.
Downloadable Resources (Click on Image to Download)
Other Sources of Information
University of Minnesota Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing
