Okay. You can’t “catch” obesity like you catch a cold. But obesity can spread like a disease through social networks, according to research from Harvard University.
The Harvard study found that if a close friend gains an unhealthy amount of weight, your chances of packing on the pounds increase by more than fifty percent. If you and your overweight friend are the same gender, your chance of gaining an unhealthy amount of weight is more than seventy percent.
Why? Because being around heavyset people might stretch your perception of what is appropriate in terms of body size. It isn’t a conscious change in perception; it also isn’t a conscious effort to sabotage you on the part of your heavier friends.
More bad news: your social circle can also influence how much you drink. If your coworkers and friends tend to hit happy hour on a regular basis, you may find yourself overindulging at home, too. Researchers from the University of Texas found that people were more than eighty percent more likely to be heavy drinkers if their coworkers and friends were heavy drinkers. Again, this isn’t a case of intentional pressure to drink; heavy drinking begins to seem like the norm when you are exposed to it over and over.
So what can you do? Spend some time thinking about your health and what you believe is healthy. If you don’t think it’s a good idea to have more than two drinks on Friday night, stick to that rule. If you don’t want dessert, don’t have it — don’t even offer to share with a friend. Stick to your health ideals and don’t be swayed by what you see around you. It might not be easy — you may not realize you are being influenced, and your friends are probably not doing it deliberately. Keep your health ideals in mind and you’ll stay on track even when your friends don’t.