The Dr. Hyman Show
Friendship Is Medicine: The Surprising Science Behind Connection | Simon Sinek
Wed, 19 Feb 2025
Friendship isn’t just a feel-good concept—it’s essential for your health, happiness, and longevity. In this episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy, I sit down with world-renowned author and leadership expert Simon Sinek to explore the science and psychology of friendship—why we need it, how it impacts our biology, and what it takes to build deep, meaningful relationships in an increasingly disconnected world. In this fascinating conversation, we discuss: The surprising link between friendship and physical health—how loneliness drives inflammation, chronic disease, and even early death. Why your five closest friends determine your habits, health, and overall well-being. The social contagion effect—how behaviors like diet, exercise, and even emotions spread through friend groups. Why food, fitness, and lifestyle interventions won’t work unless we also address social health. The biggest friendship mistakes people make—and how to fix them. The missing conversation in longevity research—why friendship might be the ultimate “biohack.” If you’ve ever wondered why making friends as an adult feels so hard, or how to create stronger connections in your life, this is an episode you won’t want to miss. View Show Notes From This Episode Get Free Weekly Health Tips from Dr. Hyman Sign Up for Dr. Hyman’s Weekly Longevity Journal This episode is brought to you by Seed, PerfectAmino, Fatty15, Sunlighten, and AirDoctor. Seed is offering my community 25% off to try DS-01® for themselves. Visit seed.com/hyman and use code 25HYMAN for 25% off your first month of Seed's DS-01® Daily Synbiotic. Get pure essential amino acids today. Go to bodyhealth.com and use HYMAN20 to get 20% off your first order. Head to fatty15.com/hyman and use code HYMAN for 15% off your 90-day subscription Starter Kit. Visit sunlighten.com and save up to $1400 on your purchase with code HYMAN. Get cleaner air. Right now, you can get up to $300 off at airdoctorpro.com/drhyman.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic of this episode?
Coming up on this episode of The Dr. Hyman Show.
And I think that friendship is the ultimate biohack. I think if you can master friendship, a lot of those other things correct themselves. Friendship in the microbiome.
Yeah.
You know, get the microbiome right, a lot of stuff just falls into place. Get friendship right, a lot of stuff just falls into place.
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Chapter 2: How does friendship impact our health?
By the way, go back to that longevity thing. You're in that space and you know more of them, but I know some of the folks who are sort of like the longevity folks. And I find a lot of them are very unhappy people.
These guys, mostly men, who are obsessed with longevity and they're taking all of the measurements and they're taking all the vitamins and supplements and they're doing all the exercises and they're doing all the things and everything's scheduled and highlighted. And I find them not very happy people. You know? Find the joy. Maybe work out a little less.
Don't worry about if you miss the supplement and maybe just hang with friends, I bet. I mean, the data will prove it out. Like we have to wait a bunch of years because the longevity obsessives, the only way we'll know if it works or not is when they die. Yeah. And if they will be happy and healthy in old age. Yeah. Because nobody wants to live a long time and be decrepit.
No.
You know? And so we have to- That's why like I- We'll have to wait it out.
Most of my friends are in their 30s and 40s now because like, you know, a lot of my older friends have just sort of checked out.
But we have to redo this podcast in 40 years and see if all the longevity obsessives, if they're still around or if they're dead. I'm going to do a Vegas betting pool here, which is I would bet that the people who are healthy-ish, like they're not unhealthy, but they're not obsessively healthy. Right? Like, yes, they get enough sleep. Yes, they eat mostly well. They do the basics.
They do the basics. Sometimes a little better, sometimes a little worse. Like on vacation, they're terrible. They're not obsessive, but they're not unhealthy, is the way I would define them. But they spend a ton of time with friends, and they have a fantastic sense of humor. And they love to laugh. I will bet money
that those people will live longer than all of the folks who are measuring and powdering.
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Chapter 4: What are the biggest mistakes people make in friendship?
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