Island Fitness (206)842-5720 | Bringing Strength, Flexibility & Balance to Bainbridge Island

FITNESS TIPS : Community Service
To store health tips more easily on your mental hard-drive, find reinforcement from your community.

Topic: Inspiration
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Being active in a community group improves your social life, but research shows there's an added bonus -- it helps you remember important health information. Here's the way to make the data stick: Read up on the latest health info, visit your local community group, and then chat about your findings. You'll have something interesting to talk about, and discussing it will help you remember what you read, which makes it more likely you'll live younger longer.

Community involvement not only boosts your emotional health by expanding your circle of social support, but also is good for you in another way. At community groups, people gab about what's in the media -- including the latest health buzz -- and all that talk reinforces the messages you hear. Researchers found that people involved in three or more community groups had better recall of information about cardiovascular disease prevention discussed recently in the media, compared to people involved in only one group or no groups. So get involved and get savvy about your health. And keep up with your RealAge Tips of the Day.

SOURCES: Social capital and health: civic engagement, community size, and recall of health messages. Viswanath, K., Randolph Steele, W., Finnegan, J. R., American Journal of Public Health 2006 Aug;96(8):1456-1461.

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