Having a sense of community can actually decrease you chances of having a heart attack, according to a new study. Photo by Johnie Gall
There’s an unrelenting assumption that if you like adventure and the thrill of adrenaline, you must be an extrovert. Wrong. While I’ll gladly throw myself out of an airplane or rappel into a dark cave or swim with sharks, the thought of a dinner party where I don’t know a single guest gives me sweaty palms.
If we’re putting labels on the incredibly complex nature of personality, I guess you’d call me an introvert, which makes me feel pretty left out whenever researchers set out to prove, yet again, that there’s a strong correlation between extroversion, health, and happiness—in a recent study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, researchers examined 5,000 adults in urban, suburban, and rural areas to asses the link between community involvement and their risk of heart attack. People who felt like they could trust and depend on their neighbors had a 67 percent reduced risk of heart attacks. In 2012, the Journal of Personality published research saying introverts are happier when they act more like extroverts, and the next year, the Journal of Research in Personality found that young extroverts are likely to be happier 40 years later.
Hold up—so because I prefer having some alone time with “Orange is the New Black” and a bowl of ice cream, I’m going to be less happy than my socially outgoing friends (and I’m probably going to have a heart attack)? Reexamining the study, I found one glaring point that actually made some sense to me: The study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health didn’t measure actual social cohesion, just the subjects’ sense of it—they thought they were more connected, even if they really weren’t.
So, if I forced myself to engage more with the people around me and thus increased my sense of social cohesion, would I be really happier and healthier?
Enter my unfunded, unscientific, totally biased personal study: For the next seven days, I would try to be more extroverted and engaged with my community. Over the course of the week, I made a calculated effort to hold conversations with people I passed on the hiking trail, go climbing alone just so I would have to ask for a belay, and offer help to strangers setting up tents or trying to load their kayaks on tall cars. It was difficult. And scary. And kind of awesome.
My conclusion? I don’t think you can ever really change your personality, but I do think making an effort to be more extroverted might be worthwhile. Alas, I’ll never have the social skills of Kate Middleton, but not being afraid to ask for a belay at the rock wall is kind of nice, right?
In my experience, the outdoors community seems to divide itself into two sections: friendly and ready to interact at any moment, or “leave me alone—I prefer to hike by myself.” What if we all put in more effort to create community when we’re outdoors? It makes sense to—we’ll look out for each other more, we’ll be able to pool our gear and resources, and people who are new to our favorite sports will feel more welcome to give it a try. More so, we’ll build our own unique community, one that’s interested in the same things we are.
So do your own experiment: Give a nod to that guy who you always pass on your morning bike ride, or invite fellow campers over to your site for a fire. Strike up a conversation while you’re waiting for a wave. Sound too simple? You’d be surprised—and your health, and heart, may thank you (but maybe lay off the donuts, just in case).
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