🫂 Social Nutrition & Social Fitness 🤸🏼

The Untapped Foundations of Human Well-Being

When we think about health, our thoughts instinctively drift toward physical fitness. We log hours at the gym, track our steps, and aim for that unattainable six-pack—the ultimate signifier of discipline and success. Nutrition, too, is reduced to macronutrients, calories, and diets that promise transformation. But this obsession with the visible and measurable neglects a crucial dimension of human health: our social well-being. Like physical health, social health requires nourishment and exercise. It’s time we acknowledge the power of social nutrition and social fitness as the true cornerstones of happiness and fulfillment.

Social Nutrition: The Unseen Fuel of Connection

Humans are not just biological organisms that require food to survive; we are social animals. Just as we fuel our bodies with food, we must nourish our minds with positive social interactions. The small gestures—a smile from a stranger or a compliment from a friend—are not trivial; they are the emotional nutrients that sustain us. Dr. Laurie Santos, a leading figure in psychology, has illustrated that while we focus on physical health because it’s visible and socially rewarded, our social relationships often have the most profound impact on our mental well-being. Yet, we underestimate social power because social nutrition isn’t as easily quantifiable as a calorie count.

Social Fitness: Strengthening the Social Muscles

Just as we build physical strength through exercise, our social fitness grows through repeated engagement in meaningful relationships. Social fitness does not simply exist—it must be cultivated, worked on, and maintained. Dr. Santos’ work suggests that while we can easily count our physical progress in gym reps or timed miles, the benefits of social fitness—greater happiness, lower stress, and a stronger sense of belonging—are less obvious but far more influential over time.

The Most Complex Task of Your Day

Consider this: what is the most complex task you performed today? Was it calculating your taxes? Solving a mathematical problem? Understanding quantum physics or the mysteries of dark matter? No, the most cognitively demanding task you engaged in was something far more familiar: interacting with another human being.

Humans are the most intricate entities in the universe for another human to comprehend. When you engage with another person, you’re not just processing what they say. You’re interpreting their emotions, predicting their reactions, and evaluating the social context—all while managing your own thoughts, desires, and responses. Each interaction is a profound, complex exercise, requiring your brain's full computational and cognitive power. The theory of mind, social dynamics, and personal psychology are all invoked in these exchanges, demanding an extraordinary level of mental engagement. Every human interaction is a landscape of predictions involving all your senses—sight, sound, intuition—working together to navigate the ever-shifting terrain of social life. We are just prediction engines, and predicting humans, ourselves included, is hard.

The Digital World: Convenience at the Cost of Humanity

Yet, in modern society, "it becomes very easy to move through life without suffering the inconvenience of other people." We now rely heavily on efficient, convenient, and transactional digital interactions. Social media allows us to broadcast to the world while avoiding real human interaction's messy, complex nature. But these digital engagements strip away the nuance of true connection. The rich emotional data we exchange face-to-face—the subtle shifts in tone, the body language, the spontaneous laughter—are lost in the virtual space. In this hyper-digital age, we risk losing our capacity for genuine connection, the very thing that gives meaning to our existence.

The Essence of Happiness: Social Interaction

Every choice we make today contributes to the creation of our future selves. If we opt for isolation—whether by avoiding social gatherings or retreating into the sterile world of digital communication—we gradually erode the foundation of our happiness. True happiness is a cause and consequence of meaningful social interaction built on kindness, empathy, and the small acts of altruism that connect us to others.

In a previous exploration, I discussed the concept of Social Light, the idea that the warmth and brightness of our lives come from the quality of our social interactions and its dark side that negatively changes neurobiology, causing the equivalent of social diabetes. To keep our social light bright, we must prioritize deeper, more meaningful exchanges with individuals rather than getting lost in large crowds or the faceless digital masses. These individual connections are where real happiness lies.

Ultimately, while society continues to glorify six-pack abs and celebrate those who spend hours perfecting their physical bodies, it is our social fitness that truly shapes our well-being. The greatest exercises we perform are not those that build our muscles but those that build our connections with others. In doing so, we ensure that the future versions of ourselves are not just fit but fulfilled.

So, take a deep breath and remember to smile, give a compliment, or ask someone how they are doing. They are all free and nutritious ingredients.