We write often about the things we should do for our health: exercise, eat more vegetables, get enough sleep, schedule our screenings, and occasionally resist the urge to count lifting grocery bags as strength training.

Today we’ll add a more fun item to our healthy habits list: spend more time with people we care about.

A large and growing body of research suggests that meaningful social connections are associated with better physical health, stronger cognitive health, and improved mental well-being. That does not mean you need 40 close friends, a packed social calendar, or a standing invitation to every neighborhood barbecue. It does mean that maintaining a few reliable, supportive relationships may be more important to your health than most of us realize.

Alone, lonely, or simply enjoying the quiet?

Researchers generally separate two concepts that are often lumped together.

Social isolation is objective. It describes having relatively few social contacts, relationships, or interactions. Loneliness is subjective. It is the feeling that your relationships do not provide the closeness or connection you want.

The two can overlap, but they do not always. You can live alone, enjoy your own company, and feel perfectly connected to other people. You can also have a spouse, co-workers, children, and 600 social media contacts and still feel lonely.

That distinction matters because studies suggest that isolation and loneliness may affect health somewhat differently. It also means the goal is not simply to surround yourself with more people. It turns out that a close, supportive circle is likely more valuable than a large collection of relationships that leave you feeling drained, misunderstood, or alone.

How do friends impact your physical health?

The most striking evidence involves longevity.

A recent analysis published in Nature Human Behaviour combined the results from 90 prospective studies involving more than 2.2 million people. Compared with people who were more socially connected, those experiencing social isolation had a 32 percent higher risk of dying during the study periods. Loneliness was associated with a 14 percent higher risk. Social isolation was also associated with a 34 percent higher risk of cardiovascular death. These were observational studies, so they cannot prove that isolation itself caused the deaths, but the associations remained across a very large and varied collection of participants.

A separate meta-analysis followed more than 104,000 middle-aged and older adults for four to 13 years. Poor social relationships were associated with a 16 percent increase in the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The researchers described the effect as relatively small and cautioned that factors they could not fully measure may explain some of it. Even so, the association was consistent enough to suggest that social health belongs in the cardiovascular-health conversation.

How might our relationships affect our bodies?

Part of the explanation is behavioral. Friends can encourage us to exercise, seek medical care, take medication, eat properly, and get out of the house. They may also notice when something is wrong before we do. A friend who says, “That cough has been hanging around for a while,” may provide a useful push toward the doctor.

Social support can also soften the body’s response to stress. When we feel threatened or chronically unsupported, the nervous system and hormonal stress response can remain more active. Over time, that may influence blood pressure, sleep, immune function, and inflammation.

Researchers are now beginning to see evidence of that biological connection. Although this part of the science is still developing, studies support the notion that positive social interactions reduce inflammation. A 2024 study examined three different groups and several markers of inflammation. Social isolation was most consistently associated with higher levels of suPAR, a marker thought to reflect chronic systemic inflammation.

It is not yet as simple as “friendship reduces inflammation.” Still, it is a promising hypothesis for further research.

Can socializing really support brain health?

A good conversation is a surprisingly complicated cognitive exercise. You listen, interpret facial expressions and tone, retrieve memories, choose your words, follow changes in topic, and occasionally try to remember the name of the restaurant you are recommending. Your brain is working even if it does not feel like work.

Social activity may also encourage other brain-supporting behaviors. Friends get us walking, playing games, trying new things, leaving familiar surroundings, and encountering different ideas. All of those experiences provide brain-boosting stimulation.

In a large UK Biobank study, researchers followed 462,619 adults for an average of nearly 12 years. Socially isolated participants had a 26 percent higher risk of developing dementia, even after the researchers adjusted for income, education, physical activity, depression, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, genetics, and many other factors.

Brain scans also showed lower gray matter volume in several regions, including areas involved in memory. Interestingly, social isolation was associated with dementia risk independently of loneliness. Feeling lonely was not significantly associated with dementia after adjusting for depression and other factors.

This does not prove that adding a weekly dinner date will prevent dementia. Cognitive changes can also make it harder for people to maintain relationships, so the cause-and-effect arrows may point in both directions. Still, the findings suggest that regular interaction may be one component of keeping the brain active and engaged as we age.

Do friendships more obviously impact mental health?

For sure. It seems intuitive that supportive relationships provide reassurance, perspective, practical help, and the enormously useful reminder that we are not handling everything alone. They also create opportunities for laughter, affection, and a sense of belonging. Research supports the positive relationship between friendship and mental health.

A recent review of adult friendship research found that friendship quality, social support, and simply spending time with friends were consistently associated with greater life satisfaction and well-being. Friendship conflict and ambivalence were associated with worse outcomes. Once again, simply having people around was not the whole story. The character of the relationships mattered.

There is also some experimental evidence to support the connection. A recent systematic review of social-connection programs for young adults found that the interventions produced a small but statistically significant reduction in depression symptoms. These small studies don’t prove that socializing can treat depression. It does suggest that helping people form or strengthen relationships may have a useful role alongside appropriate mental health care.

What is the healthiest level of socializing?

The research does not identify a universally healthy number of friends. People differ in how much interactions they enjoy and need. Introverts are certainly not required to become extroverts, and time alone is not a health hazard when it is restorative and chosen.

What seems to matter is having relationships that offer some combination of trust, support, companionship, and belonging. Your circle might include relatives, neighbors, co-workers, longtime friends, newer friends, members of a faith community, teammates, or the person who knows both your coffee order and the entire history of your family.

Maintaining those relationships requires a little intention, particularly when work, children, distance, and life in general get in the way. Start small. Send the text you have been meaning to send. Put the next coffee or walk on the calendar before the current one ends. Join an activity that meets regularly, since repeated contact makes it easier for acquaintances to become friends. If getting out is difficult, phone calls and video conversations still provide real interaction. Digital connection can support relationships, particularly across distance, although passively scrolling through other people’s lives is not the same as talking with someone who knows yours.

And if your current relationships consistently create stress, criticism, or conflict, “more connection” is not necessarily the answer. Healthy social connection is not measured by how many invitations you accept. It is measured, at least in part, by whether you feel understood, supported, and able to be yourself.

Eating well and exercising still matter. But every once in a while, the healthy choice may be to close the laptop, meet a friend, and stay long enough to finish the conversation.