How a lack of connection hurts men's mental health
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| | | | Hi, friends! I want to start by giving a shout-out to everyone doing Dry January this year. Even a short break from alcohol can improve your health on multiple levels. So kudos! | | Whether or not you're drinking these days, we hope you're staying in touch with your friends. As we'll go into below, the "friendship recession" is hitting men in the United States especially hard. Learn how a lack of friends can affect well-being and get some tips for making and keeping meaningful connections. | | Here's what else we have in store today: | | | | | Stay sharp,
Ginger Wojcik
Newsletter Editor, Healthline | | | | |
| |  | | Written by Ginger Wojcik
January 11, 2023 • 7 min read | | | | | | | |
| |  | | | Are male friendships going extinct? | There are five times more men without friends in the United States than there were 30 years ago, according to a 2021 survey. It also found that the percentage of men with at least six close friends has nearly halved during the same time period. And while female friendships have also fallen off a cliff, the survey found that women were twice as likely to have gotten emotional support from a friend in the previous week than men.
Social connections are a fundamental human need, right up there with food, water, and shelter. In fact, loneliness increases your risk of premature death from all causes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). If that isn't shocking enough, consider this 2008 study that found that improving your social life is worth up to an extra $101,000 a year in terms of life satisfaction. (That's over $140,000 adjusted for inflation!)
It's not entirely clear why male friendships are in worse shape now than before. But men and boys, who are often socialized to be self-sufficient and stoic, have always faced obstacles to making meaningful connections.
If you're looking to strengthen your friendships, consider the following tips: - Be proactive about staying in touch: Schedule time on your calendar to call your friends or get together IRL.
- Gather around a shared interest: Invite your friends to read the same book or watch the same TV series so you can all talk about it.
- Be fully present when you're socializing: Avoid scrolling while you're on the phone or spending time with someone in person.
- Show that you care: Ask questions about their lives and how they're doing.
tl;dr: Men have far fewer close friends than they did 30 years ago. Having fewer friends increases the risk of loneliness, which is associated with a range of health concerns. It can be harder for men to make friends, especially because of how they're socialized from a young age. Our sister site Psych Central put together this list of tips for maintaining friendships. | | | | | | |
| | | | Editor faves with health perks | | You know those great finds you just *have* to tell your friends about? That's how we feel about the products we recommend here. Every pick has been vetted by our editorial team, and we genuinely think it'll make your life better. | | | | | | |  | | Spikeball | | As someone who's very competitive and easily exhausted by socializing, I'm a big fan of games. Playing games can be a fun way to break the ice with new friends or pass the time with people you see all the time. If you're socially anxious, it may be a relief to hang out with others without the pressure to think of things to talk about. | | Spikeball is a personal fave because it also involves being physically active. The game is sort of like volleyball, except instead of hitting the ball over a net, you bounce it off a little trampoline. Everything you need to start playing is in this starter kit (aside from three other players). Caution: This game can get rowdy, so be safe and have fun. | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | The FDA recently updated the description of the Plan B pill, a commonly used emergency contraceptive, to specify that it can't be used to terminate a pregnancy. Previously, the documentation said that Plan B may help stop a fertilized egg from implanting in the womb (despite a lack of evidence), driving concerns that the medication could be banned in states where abortion is severely restricted. | | | | | | | |
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| |  | | | Men are in need of more convenient healthcare options | "Take it like a man." "Hold back your tears." "Toughen up." Men aren't exactly encouraged to talk about, or even acknowledge, their feelings. So it will likely come as no surprise that men around the globe are less likely to seek mental health care than women. (This tracks with prior reporting we've done on men avoiding going to the doctor.)
This reluctance to get help is based on many factors and may help explain why men die from mental health-related causes at such high rates. Four times more men than women die by suicide each year in the United States. And in 2016, more than twice the number of men than women died from heavy alcohol use.
While there's no one fix for this issue, a 2019 survey found that 61% of men would be more likely to go to the doctor if it were more convenient. Given the data on how popular telehealth services have become since the start of the pandemic, could virtual healthcare options help bridge the gap in healthcare for men?
Enter Roman, a healthcare platform created to improve the lives of men and their partners by making high quality care accessible and convenient. Roman works with United States-licensed healthcare providers to offer evidence-based treatments at reasonable prices. From the online visit to contact-free delivery with ongoing care, your experience at Roman is built to be seamless and stress-free. (Ro, Roman's parent company, also offers the same system of care for anyone experiencing common health conditions, including infertility and hair loss.) | | | | | | |
| | | | | | At the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, my close friends and I started using the video app Marco Polo to stay in touch. It's been almost 3 years and we're still using it weekly, if not daily, to update one another about our lives. I think we'd all agree the app has brought us closer than we've ever been. Sure, we have a group text, but there's something about the video format that feels more intimate. | | Many friendships have a tendency to peter out. Sometimes this is for the best, but a lot of times, it's simply because life gets in the way. So we're curious how you all maintain your long-term friendships. | | We want to know: What tips do you have for staying in close contact with your friends? Let us know at wellnesswire@healthline.com. (Please note that we may use your name and response in an upcoming edition!) | | | | | | |
| | | | We recently asked readers how they felt connected to their ancestry. We received many lovely replies, including this excerpt from Jane M.'s response:
My ancestors came to us on a boat from the British isles. They were very hard-working farmers in the hills who had nothing but what they could grow or butcher and were fine with isolation (they had no idea they were isolated). Experiencing adversity as a part of life and as the mother of invention. Having experiences like swinging on grapevines and swimming with snakes in the wide part of the creek. Not questioning that there might be something better than an outdoor toilet.
These experiences and teachings made me who I am. A rich tapestry of life and an appreciation of how the world can be so different in a different place.
Thanks for reading! Morgan will be back on Friday.
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| | | | | | | Until next time, |  | Take care of yourself, and we'll see
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