Relationships 2.0: The Power of Tiny Interactions

This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedantam. Ask yourself what makes you happy. Many people would say spending time with close friends, quality moments with family, playing with a pet. Most of us can agree, relationships are at the heart of a life well lived.

Social science research bears this out. Countless studies suggest that our emotional ties to others shape our well-being. Long-running analyses that track people over time show that social connections are not just about our emotional well-being, they're important details determinants of our physical health. But it's one thing to say that relationships are important.

It's another to go about getting them or preserving them. Lifelong friends move away to other towns and countries. Romantic relationships come undone. Relatives pass away. And especially as people get older, many find it difficult to form new relationships, even as they yearn to feel close to others.

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