LIFE WISDOM
BALANCE / RENEWAL / BIG IDEAS / WORTHY GOODS
Engaging with others
is as vital to your
health as eating well,
exercising regularly
and quitting smoking.
Making a Group Effort
As we abandon group
activities in an attempt
to regain time and
productivity, we may be
risking the loss of
a powerful support
system — one that’s
critical to both our
health and happiness.
BY WANDA URBANSKA
TOO BUSY TO GET INVOLVED WITH THE
PTA, the Rotary Club or your local gardeners’ group? Consider this: If you’re
not a member of a single social, civic,
religious or fraternal organization, and
you join one, your chance of dying in the
next 12 months drops by half, according
to Lewis M. Feldstein, MA, coauthor of
Better Together: Restoring the American
Community (Simon & Schuster, 2003).
“If you join another organization that
year,” Feldstein says, “your chances of
dying drop another 25 percent.” In other
words, engaging with others is as vital
to your health as eating well, exercising
regularly and quitting smoking.
Protective Effects
Experts have dubbed the health benefits
of close community ties “The Roseto
Effect,” based on a landmark study that
tracked a group of Italian immigrants
who settled in Roseto, Penn. People who
lived in Roseto were noticeably health-
ier and lived longer than their peers
in neighboring Bangor, despite sharing
such risk factors as fatty diets, an addic-
tion to cigarettes and minimal exercise
routines. What was their secret?
