Steve Hooker: If health is wealth, then community is currency

Did you know that a strong sense of community can have real-life physical health benefits? Ever the advocate for stronger communities, AIA Vitality Ambassador Steve Hooker investigates.  

You’d be hard pressed to find many people out there who don’t like the idea of ‘community’. Being a part of a community makes us feel good, better connected, and gives us a sense of support and belonging.

And that’s not all it does – when all of these positives combine, they can actually result in some pretty profound physical and mental health benefits. And I’m not making this stuff up – take the small town of Roseto, in Pennsylvania, for example. You might have heard of it. 

What’s interesting about Roseto is that this tight-knit community on the eastern edge of Pennsylvania counted around half the national average of heart disease, and men over the age of 65 had half the national American death rate (1% vs 2%).

Settled by immigrants from the Italian mountain town of Roseto Valfortore in 1882, by the 1970s, it was estimated that around 95% of Roseto’s population were still descendants of those immigrants.

What’s even more interesting is that Rosetans didn’t stick to a heathy diet, many of them didn’t exercise, and smoking was common. Their apparent immunity to disease wasn’t genetic, either – studies found that Rosetans living elsewhere were as prone to disease as anyone else in America. 

In the late 1950s, Dr. Stewart Wolf visited Roseto for a holiday, but wound up sticking around to observe this phenomenon for himself. The findings of his studies, and those that came later, pointed to the town’s strong sense of community as the primary factor contributing to a low-stress lifestyle, and therefore a low incidence of heart disease. 

Dr. Wolf later wrote: “The community was very cohesive. There was no keeping up with the Joneses. Houses were very close together, and everyone lived more or less alike.” 

The ‘Roseto effect’ has of course been covered extensively already – including in Malcolm Gladwell’s 2008 book, The Outliers and this very handy YouTube video.

All of this really struck me, and the findings in Roseto and these ideas around the importance of community are as relevant now – as we navigate our way through a global pandemic – as they ever were.

You feel better when you engage with those around you, when you hang out with people who are wholesome, and who interest you. And it feels good to support someone else when they’re going through something challenging. The Roseto effect shows how being an active part of an active community can physically benefit us.

But this idea of ‘community’ is also a little intangible. You can’t measure how well-connected you are, or to what extent you’re a ‘part of’ your community. And in our modern world, where people are liable to move suburbs, states, and even countries multiple times during their lifetime – it can be tricky to foster that sense of community. We often don’t have multiple generations living in the same place, and we’re often not surrounded by our immediate family.

Australians are also a lot more private than we perhaps think. We all have our fences up and our doors closed, and overt displays of friendliness – especially from a stranger – can often be met with more with suspicion than anything else. 

You don’t automatically get the benefits of living in a community just because you live somewhere, you need to actively build those connections. Community takes work.

So it might literally be a case of knocking on your neighbour’s door and introducing yourself, or trying to have more meaningful conversations with the people who own and run your local businesses – cafes, butchers, restaurants, even the supermarket! And it might be a case of saying ‘yes’ more, or being proactive when it comes to inviting the people around you into your home for a meal, or even just a coffee.

You don’t have to become best friends with everyone, but you will find people who you’ll be able to reach out to when you need help. Just basic support – it’s about building that network around you, and sharing the load.   

If you’re a little stuck, or don’t know where to start, it can be helpful to find the things that interest you and lean into that – joining a club, going to classes, just starting something new.

Joining the dad’s footy team at my son’s school has been one of the best things I’ve done. It’s just given me that sense of connection, and given me this immediate support network of people who are going through similar things to me.  

And of course, it’s important to nurture your existing network of family and friends too – even if they don’t live in your immediate area. I’ve got a lot of friends who live overseas that I still keep in touch with, and it can sometimes even be easier to be honest and open with people who aren’t in your immediate network.

It’s just a case of finding what works for you, of making that effort, and building your sense of community piece-by-piece. If we can do that, one day at a time, then we might just find a little slice of Roseto in our own backyards.

AIA Vitality Ambassador Steve Hooker OAM is a three-time Olympic pole vaulter and an Olympic gold medallist. A father to three boys, he’s also a full-blown amateur weekend BMX rider. Nowadays he splits his professional time between running one of Melbourne’s leading private property development companies and is a member of the Executive and Chair of the Athletes Commission with the Australian Olympic Committee. In the midst of all that, he tries to grab 45 minutes of exercise for himself whenever he can.

Copyright © 2020 AIA Australia Limited (ABN 79 004 837 861 AFSL 230043). This is general information only, without taking into account factors like the objectives, financial situation, needs or personal circumstances of any individual and is not intended to be financial, legal, tax, medical, nutritional, health, fitness or other advice.