It’s Christmas Day today. A time of love and connection, compassion and giving. It’s the day (or days, before, depending on tradition) families all over the world sit down together, eat good food and exchange gifts as a sign of their love and affection for each other.

But did you know that this feeling of compassion and connection is probably more powerful to fight diseases than all the world’s medications put together? And this is no mumbo jumbo. It has all been scientifically proven.

Even if this case has been featured in many books and articles, there is no way to discuss the health benefits of human connections without beginning with the true story of the town of Roseto. This small Italian immigrant town created big fuss in the medical community in the 1960s.

When researchers began to go over death records from this little town, they discovered that people generally didn’t die of diseases but of old age. Heart attacks were especially rare. In fact, there were no records of ANYONE under the age of 45 ever dying of heart attack.

What was even more astonishing was people in Roseto didn’t live a very healthy lifestyle. They smoked, drank, ate and worked hard. Low cholesterol diets didn’t exist in their vocabulary. And the pollution from working in the slate quarries should have been enough to destroy even the toughest hearts.

But it didn’t!

What the people of Roseto had was an extremely strong family and society connection. They took the time to stop and talk and smile and shake hands as they walked through the town. If someone got sick or came upon hard time, he or she could rely on the neighbors to help. Thefts and crimes were literally non-existant. There was not a single case of burglary reported in anywhere.

They had connection, and that connection kept them healthy.

Sadly, as the Roseto community “developed,” so did the modern diseases. In the 1980s, the little town of Roseto had ‘Americanized’ and heart attacks had become just as common as anywhere else.

Many other close communities have a similar health structure. The traditional Amish community, for example, has only half the cancer risk of the average American, lower cholesterol, less diabetes and some Amish communities are even seen to be immune to heart attacks.
Several studies have revealed that married people, especially married men, live longer and suffer less diseases than those who’re not married.

Other studies show that people who get divorced have 20% more chronic health conditions such as cancer and heart diseases and type 2 diabetes. What’s more, even after people move on and get remarried, the chronic disease rate is still 12% higher.

This shows how much the lingering and chronic stress of separation and disconnection from those we love can negatively impact our health.

There are finally numerous studies that show that people who develop life-threatening diseases have a much greater chance of overcoming any health problems if they have a strong base of supporting friends and family.

There is an old Jewish story about a Rabbi who visited hell. He saw people sitting there on two sides of a long table with the most delicious bowl of soup in front of each and every one and spoon in hand. But their arms were splinted on wooden slats so they couldn’t bend their elbow and enjoy the soup. Everyone was pale and miserable. Then he visited heaven and surprisingly the scenery was exactly the same except that there, everyone was feeding the person across from them so now they were enjoying the soup and connection with smile and laughter.

Human connection is free. It has no negative side-effects and may actually be quite pleasurable from time to time.
So I encourage you this Christmas to reach out and connect. It could not only save your life, but imagine that you could also be saving someone else’s.