Is loneliness making you sick?

Is loneliness making you sick?

I saw a recent post by CrossFit.Com asking that exact question 'Is loneliness making you sick?' and it really got me thinking…

Firstly, and this is only my opinion, I do believe that  both exercise and social interaction are both key elements of keeping a healthy mind. I also appreciate that, that's my opinion based on my own experiences and the experiences that others have shared with me. That's just to say that everyone is different and therefore keeping a healthy mind will look different to everyone.

On the note of personal experience, the thing that drew me to CrossFit originally wasn't the methodology, wasn't from watching the CrossFit Games and wasn't the thought of improving my physical health. Having moved to a new city, 70 miles from the nearest person I knew (apart from my partner) and a few hundred miles away from the next person I knew after that, it  was the fact that I wanted to meet some new people. The draw of the CrossFit Community is what got me started, everything else is what has kept me there and has helped me develop a passion for the sport.

In today's post Covid world, the one we moved in, there is also the element of working from home. Working from home has revolutionised my life, I love it. It's more productive, more convenient and allows me to get more out of life outside of work. BUT there was one big downside for me after moving. It meant that I wasn't meeting or interacting with anyone in person other than my partner and on days with no meetings I could easily go from morning to evening without seeing or saying a word to anyone. For me personally that was ok from time to time but on a consistent basis it wasn't doing me any favours and certainly wasn't going to work for me long term.

My view is that in a post Covid world, CrossFit has an even bigger place to play, not just in physical but, even more importantly, in the mental health aspect. And let's not sugarcoat it, mental health needs our focus as much as physical health right now. The community element of Affiliates, in that sense, has become even more important. In a world where more people are working from home and time can be created by not commuting my hope is that, that can be filled with a element of physical fitness and ideally using that for some sort of social activity built in, be that joining a team, going for walks with friends, walking rather than driving to your book club or joining a CrossFit gym and becoming a member of their community. 

Andy