Strong social connections may be one of the most underrated health tools in modern life, with neuroscience showing that meaningful relationships can improve mental well-being, protect the body from stress, and even help people live longer.
Do you realize that building and maintaining healthy relationships can actually extend your lifespan?
Have you ever considered that spending time with other people may be just as important to your overall health as regular exercise, balanced nutrition, and good sleep?
Socializing often feels natural and enjoyable, but according to American neuroscientist Ben Rein, it also plays a major role in strengthening both mental health and physical health.
He explains that when we connect with others, we usually feel better because the brain’s social reward systems are activated, creating a sense of comfort, safety, and emotional satisfaction.
During social interaction, the brain releases chemicals such as oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin. These powerful brain chemicals help us feel pleasure, calm, trust, and emotional warmth. This response is deeply rooted in human evolution, because for early humans, group living and social bonding were essential for survival.
Rein argues that people need to take social connection far more seriously because overall well-being improves when we stay connected to others. He develops this idea further in his book, Why Brains Need Friends: The Neuroscience of Social Connection.
Oxytocin, often described as the love hormone, offers one of the clearest examples of how relationships benefit the body. Some researchers even refer to it as a kind of natural medicine because of the broad effects it can have on health.
According to Rein, oxytocin can help reduce inflammation, protect the brain, support the immune system, encourage bone health, and lower the burden of social stress on the body and mind.
From an evolutionary point of view, this hormone serves an important purpose in helping human beings survive and reproduce. Its role is especially visible in two powerful forms of connection: the bond between a parent and child, and the intimate attachment between romantic partners.
In simple terms, these social and emotional bonds help protect the body so that people can care for one another, raise children, and sustain family life.
Why is the weakening of social connections harmful to us?
A large body of research shows that loneliness can do serious harm to mental health and may raise the risk of anxiety, depression, suicidal thinking, and long-term psychological stress.
Severe loneliness, especially when a person has little or no meaningful contact with others, has also been linked to a greater risk of early death. Some studies suggest that the risk may rise by as much as 32 percent.
Rein says loneliness is not something that suddenly kills a person overnight, but it can quietly create chronic stress that raises the risk of illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, and dementia.
One reason for this is that the body begins to produce higher levels of cortisol, a key stress hormone. Over time, this can create chronic inflammation that damages healthy tissues and contributes to long-term disease.
He explains that long-term stress creates an exhausting burden on the body’s tissues, just as it does on the brain, and this biological wear and tear can fuel inflammation and illness over time.
Why do we socialize less?
If spending time with others makes us feel better, why are so many people doing less of it? Rein describes this as part of what he calls the post-interaction world.
He says one major cause is the automation of daily life, which has steadily reduced the number of face-to-face interactions people once had in ordinary routines.
He points to self-checkout systems in supermarkets as one example. Today, many people no longer have to speak with a cashier, and with online ordering, even basic shopping can happen without any human contact.
Rein also says the intense loneliness many people experienced during the Covid pandemic had a lasting impact, and that since then, many individuals have become used to limiting social interaction as much as possible.
But he stresses that human needs have not changed. Even after the pandemic, people still need relationships, connection, and meaningful social contact just as deeply as before.
The coronavirus era also dramatically increased our dependence on online communication. While social media and digital messaging are convenient, they may carry some of the same mental health risks associated with loneliness, especially when they replace in-person contact.
Even though digital communication is easy and efficient, it does not satisfy the social brain in the same way because human beings evolved to communicate face-to-face, reading tone, body language, and emotional signals in real time.
Rein compares online interaction to junk food for the social brain. It offers quick and easy contact, but it cannot truly replace real connection, and that is one reason so many people continue to feel lonely despite being constantly online.
He advises people to elevate their interactions whenever possible.
For example, if you are only sending someone a text message, try turning that exchange into a phone call. If you are already speaking on the phone, see whether you can move to a video call. And if you are on video, consider meeting in person. He says that adding more depth, quality, and presence to human interaction can produce enormous benefits for the brain.
How does this affect introverted people?
Rein points out that everyone exists somewhere along a spectrum between introversion and extroversion, and that the healthy amount of social interaction differs from person to person.
He says extroverts, who gain energy and emotional benefit from frequent contact with others, are like plants that need regular watering. Without steady social interaction, they begin to struggle.
More reserved or introverted people, on the other hand, may be like plants that need only occasional watering. Too much interaction can overwhelm them, but no interaction at all is also unhealthy and damaging.
His view is that every person needs to understand what their brain requires and then make sure those needs are being met in a realistic and healthy way.
Rein also emphasizes that different levels of interaction can all provide value. He describes social connection as something like a pool with both shallow and deep ends.
Even a small moment of connection, such as waving to a neighbor, can lift your mood. A slightly deeper interaction might be chatting with a stranger while waiting in line at a store. At the deepest level, it may mean sharing a meaningful, honest conversation with a close friend or loved one.
He says people do not need to have deep conversations all the time. What matters most is staying connected, nurturing relationships, and not withdrawing completely from social life.
In the end, Rein believes that strong relationships can improve individual health, emotional balance, and quality of life, and that their influence can extend far beyond the personal level into society itself.
He argues that kindness, connection, and mutual support carry enormous biological, psychological, and cultural benefits, and that it is remarkable how often people underestimate the healing power of simply being there for one another.
