When I worked in the health insurance business end of medicine, I picked up some of the jargon. An interaction with a medical colleague or a business partner (a home health agency, a hospital, a nursing home, etc.) was called a touch. And each individual within a partner organization was often called a touchpoint. I always thought that this terminology was useful.
On Sundays I receive an email touch from our country medical society’s Physician Wellness Program (PWP). The PWP is staffed by two physicians who provide mental health services for society members. Their email newsletter addresses general issues about physician wellbeing as well featuring some content from society’s membership – essays, poems, and other contemplations/ruminations. Other times, like today, the newsletter shares studies related to mental health.
The study today was a large, multi-year study that examined the potential links between health and friendships. It compared the overall health (including death) of the participants based on the size of their social network and the interactions that the participant had with his or her network members – the frequency and type of touches, if you will. The touches included phone calls, text messages, emails and actual physical interactions.
The upshot of the study was that individuals who had a network with five or more members fared better than those with fewer. In terms of mortality, having too few relationships was as bad for a person’s health as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. The Surgeon General’s recent report on the American epidemic of loneliness says as much. We are social creatures who need families and tribes. We are hardwired for such relationships. Our social networks nurture us, help us endure adversities, and support us in many ways.
The PWP commentary on this issue made the important point that each tend to underestimate the impact that touching a member of our social network, friends and family, has on the individuals whom we touch. The person to whom you send a greeting or with whom you share even a brief personal message benefits more from that touch than you may think – every touch matters.
So, reach out and touch someone.
NB: The study didn’t examine social media interactions which, as you well know, can be either positive or negative. I myself have made a conscious effort to withdraw from individuals with whom I have had negative interactions. (Life is too short for that crap.) The study authors did allow as how social media interactions, particularly those that were positive probably had a salutary effect. I certainly have found them so.