Where exercise and social connections intersect

I‘ve been heading to the gym regularly lately, and I feel great.

But yet there are a few drawbacks.

I’m lonely. I’m out there absorbed in my own thing in a sea of other people absorbed in doing their thing.

It’s a known fact that social connectedness leads to improved health. Now James O’Keefe and other researchers writing in the Journal of Yoga, Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation have looked at how the benefits of exercise combine with the benefits of social connection.

It turns out that participating in fitness activities that have a social component (dancing, tennis, soccer, and – yes – badminton) gives a much bigger boost to longevity than an equal amount of solitary exercise (jogging, swimming, cycling, working out on a treadmill or elliptical trainer, or lifting weights.)

One more reason to get off the treadmill.