Can your health affect the health of others?
When we make healthy changes, we’re not only influencing people we know and love, but also other people in their social networks. In this video, HealthMaker James Fowler, PhD, professor of medical genetics and political science at UCSD, explains.
Transcript
I think it's so important for us to study these outcomes. Because eventually knowing that, I think will allow us to take greater responsibility
for our own outcomes. [UPBEAT MUSIC]
It's funny, because one of the reactions to a lot of this research is that this is the death of free will. And I do think that there are lots
of things that are happening out there right now, right at this very instant, that are going to affect you. They're going to affect me. And there's very little that we can do about it.
At the same time, I think it's a fundamental shift in our conceptualization of ourselves to realize that we also have that power, that we, when
we make a change, are not only influencing the people that we know and love but the people that they're connected to and the people that they're connected to.
There are dozens, and in some cases, hundreds of people out there that are changing as a result of your changes.
Every single day, everything you feel, think, and do, these things are rippling through the network. And so while you may have less control over your own actions,
the control that you do have has a much more profound effect. And for me-- I don't know if this affects everybody, I actually would like to do a research study on this--
but for me, my reaction to this was to actually lose five pounds and keep it off. Because for the first time, I realized
I was not only making myself healthier but also my son and my son's best friend, and maybe even my son's best friend's mother.
All of these people extend out the network, are impacted by everything that I do. And that's why I think it's so important for us
to study these outcomes. Because eventually knowing that, I think will allow us to take greater responsibility for our own outcomes.
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