You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day.

I'm your host, Elise Hugh. You know it's important to take care of your physical and mental health,

but what about your social health? By thinking of our health as primarily physical and mental,

we overlook what I believe is the greatest challenge and the greatest opportunity of our time.

That's social scientist Casley Killem. In this talk from 2024, she shows how feeling a sense of belonging and connection has concrete benefits to your overall health.

We're talking immune function, heart disease risk, even lifespan.

She shares a simple practical framework for strengthening your relationships and makes the

case that social health may be the missing key to living a longer and happier life.

The beauty of nurturing your own social health

is that it naturally enriches the social health

of everyone you connect with.

That's coming up right after a short break.

And now our TED Talk of the Day.

So a couple years ago, a woman I know who I'll call Maya, went through a lot of big changes in a short amount of time. She got married. She and her husband moved for his job to a new city where

she didn't know anyone, she started a new role working from home, all while managing her dad's

new diagnosis of dementia. And to manage the stress of all this change, Maya doubled down on her

physical and mental health. She exercised almost every day.

She ate healthy foods.

She went to therapy once a week.

And these actions really helped.

Her body got stronger, her mind got more resilient, but only up to a point.

She was still struggling, often losing sleep in the middle of the night,

...