People lead such busy lives that they often don’t have time to eat, let alone with their families. Instead, they rush to the table between work and eat as quickly as possible. For others, they go home to an empty house and they simply choose to eat in front of the TV as they satisfy their tummies.
As much as eating is important, it’s even better to be with your family. The company just makes everything better. And recent studies show that eating with your family is also better for your health and wellbeing.
While we know how difficult your family can be at times, they also provide moments of love and happiness, especially around the table. Regular family dinners can be the secret when it comes to lowering stress levels, especially at home.
While this detail may seem an important, a recent made by the American Heart Association (AHA) conducted a research on chronic stress. And as health experts have said, this can also increase rates for all types of non-communicable heart diseases.
A total of 1,000 U.S. adults nationwide were surveyed in September of this year. This was conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of the AHA. Of the total, 91 percent of the respondents said that their family wasn’t as stressed when they shared meals and ate together. And another 84 percent said that they wished that they were able to share meals with loved ones more frequently.
“Sharing meals with others is a great way to reduces stress, boost self-esteem and improve social connection, particularly for kids,” said Erin Michos, M.D, M.H.S. She’s also an American Heart Association volunteer from Johns Hopkins.
“Chronic, constant stress can also increase your lifetime risk of heart disease and stroke, so it is important for people to find ways to reduce and manage stress as much as possible, as soon as possible,” she added.
There’s more to connecting with friends, family, coworkers and neighbors. This simple act somes with a lot of benefits and it goes beyond stress relief. The AHA survey proved just this because it found that 67 percent of people have stated how sharing meals reminds them of how important connecting with others is. Aside from that, another 54 percent of them say that this somewhat reminds them to take it slow and to enjoy a break every so often.
The survey was also able to point out that majority (around 65 percent) of adults claim that they are at least somewhat stressed and also more than a quarter (27 percent) have reported to being under heavy duress.
Almost 7 in 10 of the respondents in the survey and who are employed either full or part-time claimed that having a meal with a colleague and taking more breaks in between would extremely help them cope with stress.
The participants in the survey claimed that they are more likely (around 59 percent of them) to make healthier choices if they had meals with other people, but they also find it challenging to align their schedules. This was the information shared to the researchers. Generally, many of the respondents said that they ate alone about 50 percent of the time.
“We know it’s not always as easy as it sounds to get people together at mealtime. Like other healthy habits, give yourself permission to start small and build from there,” Michos said.
“Set a goal to gather friends, family or coworkers for one more meal together each week. If you can’t get together in person, think about how you can share a meal together over the phone or a computer,” she also advised.
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