How Social Networks Control Your Health
The power of community to create health is far greater than any physician, clinic or hospital.
Feb 27, 2012
The Huffington Post
February 14, 2012
By, Mark Hyman, MD
If you want to get healthy, you just might not want to go to a doctor. You might instead, go to church. The power of community to create health is far greater than any physician, clinic or hospital. You are more likely to be overweight if your friend's, friend's friend is overweight than if your parents are overweight. Your social networks may matter more than your genetic networks. But if your friends have healthy habits you are more likely to as well. So get healthy friends.
In the fall of 2010, I had dinner with Rick Warren, the pastor of the 30,000 strong Saddleback Church in Southern California. He came to see me to get healthy - and he got religion about health. Over a healthy dinner of beet and cabbage autumn soup and a salad, he described his extraordinarily successful experiment for sustained personal growth and change. Rick encouraged his congregation to form 5,000 small groups that met every week in their community to study, learn and grow together.
In a flash, in that moment, I envisioned using those same small groups as a means of creating healthy lifestyle change. Out of that meeting, with Drs. Mehmet Oz and Daniel Amen, we created The Daniel Plan, a roadmap for physical and spiritual health and renewal that would be delivered through the small groups. Rick named it "The Daniel Plan" after the first health support group created by Daniel and his friends who resisted the temptation of the King's rich food and were healthier for it.
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Feb 27, 2012
The Huffington Post
February 14, 2012
By, Mark Hyman, MD
If you want to get healthy, you just might not want to go to a doctor. You might instead, go to church. The power of community to create health is far greater than any physician, clinic or hospital. You are more likely to be overweight if your friend's, friend's friend is overweight than if your parents are overweight. Your social networks may matter more than your genetic networks. But if your friends have healthy habits you are more likely to as well. So get healthy friends.
In the fall of 2010, I had dinner with Rick Warren, the pastor of the 30,000 strong Saddleback Church in Southern California. He came to see me to get healthy - and he got religion about health. Over a healthy dinner of beet and cabbage autumn soup and a salad, he described his extraordinarily successful experiment for sustained personal growth and change. Rick encouraged his congregation to form 5,000 small groups that met every week in their community to study, learn and grow together.
In a flash, in that moment, I envisioned using those same small groups as a means of creating healthy lifestyle change. Out of that meeting, with Drs. Mehmet Oz and Daniel Amen, we created The Daniel Plan, a roadmap for physical and spiritual health and renewal that would be delivered through the small groups. Rick named it "The Daniel Plan" after the first health support group created by Daniel and his friends who resisted the temptation of the King's rich food and were healthier for it.
Read More