While we know that the physical environment (fast foods, portion sizes, elevators, etc.) influences our eating and physical activity behaviors, new research from Harvard University indicates that our social environment may also be linked to our behaviors, attitudes, and weight status.
 
In this study, weight and height data from more than 12,000 socially interconnected adults who had participated in the Framingham Heart Study were analyzed. Researchers found that thin and overweight people tended to be clustered together, and that a person's odds of becoming obese increased by 57% if he/she had a friend who became obese over a certain time interval. Additionally, if one sibling became obese, the chances that the other sibling would also become obese increased by 40% and if a spouse became obese, the other spouse had a 37% increased likelihood of following suit.
 
The study also found that social networks were more influential than geographic location and that people of the same gender had a greater influence on each other than people of the opposite gender.
 
So what does all of this mean? Having obese friends and family members may cause you to change your tolerance for being obese or influence your adoption of unhealthy weight related behaviors like overeating or being sedentary. In other words, you may unconsciously say to yourself, "I see you've gained weight, it is okay for me to gain weight."
 
Thus, the problem of obesity cannot be addressed just at the individual level. Social ties within families, neighborhoods, communities, workplaces, and schools should be targeted as a means to spread healthy (vs. less healthy) attitudes and behaviors about weight, eating, and physical activity.

What healthy behaviors could you get your family members, friends, and co-workers on board with? Here are some of our suggestions:

• Meatless Mondays. Make nutrient-rich, low-calorie plant foods the focus of your family dinner at least once a week.
• Hip Hop instead of Happy Hour. Recruit your friends to try one of the fun new exercise classes (like Hip Hop/Funk, Boot Camp, Kick Boxing) offered at a local fitness center.
• Walking (or standing) work meetings. Ask your co-workers to meet in a room without chairs or outside for an "active" meeting.
• Physical Activity as an appetizer. Instead of snacking before dinner, get your family to go outside and play while the casserole's in the oven.
• Leafy greens for lunch. Invite a friend or co-worker to go out for lunch at a restaurant that serves good salads or has a salad bar.

For tips on finding and recruiting physical activity "partners" download this worksheet from our Stand Up & Eat library.

Christakis, N.A. (2007). The spread of obesity in a large social network over 32 years. New England Journal of Medicine. 357(4), 370-379.