How Community Can Add Years to Your Life

“Don’t Go It Alone: How Community Can Add Years to Your Life and Healthspan”

Feeling disconnected or going solo on your health journey? You might be missing the most powerful tool for living a longer, healthier life: community.

In this raw and real episode, recorded just 24 hours after moving across the country, Healthspan Coach Aaron Shaw reflects on the power of community—especially during times of transition. From cycling tribes in North Carolina to rebuilding from scratch in Fort Collins, Aaron shares personal stories and science-backed insights on why community isn’t just nice to have—it’s essential to your longevity.

You’ll learn:

🚴‍♂️ How Aaron uses cycling groups to stay grounded and healthy

🔬 What the research says: A strong community can literally extend your lifespan

🧠 Why social connection lowers your risk of heart disease, dementia, depression, and more

💡 Practical tips for finding or building your own supportive tribe—no matter your interests or fitness level

If you’ve ever felt isolated or unsure where to plug in, this episode is your invitation.

Aaron is building a Healthspan Community for people who want more than tips—they want accountability, connection, and a shared mission to live better, longer.

👉 Interested in joining? Visit HealthspanPillars.com or check the show notes to learn more.

🎧 Don’t miss this heartfelt, science-backed episode that could change the way you think about health and longevity—forever.

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Transcript

Have you ever had a long epic drive? Well, I just finished a long epic drive. My wife and I packed up everything we have, everything we own and drove cross country moving from North Carolina to Fort Collins, Colorado, landing here less than 24 hours ago. So recent that I'm actually recording this episode from a residence in and.

There's a pretty drab background if you're watching this on YouTube with the exception of my mountain bike, because my mountain bike, of course, made the trip with me. But during these long drives, during this specific long drive, there's ⁓ plenty to think about. And mostly through Kansas, it seems like there's a lot of time to think because there's not a whole lot to see in parts of ⁓ middle America. It's beautiful. But I really got thinking about what I was leaving and what I was

driving towards and specifically what really kind of stuck in my mind was a sense of community. Community is, has been so important to me in my successes in life, in navigating the challenges in life. And it's, it kind of pulls at the heartstrings when you're leaving friends that I've, that, you know, I've met a couple of years ago or over the past couple of years in North Carolina and.

Specifically for me, my community is a cycling community. The only thing that's unique about it is just that our tribe, our community has a passion for cycling. But the essence of having this group of people that are like-minded, that have a similar interest is similar to any other community. So whether it could be a church community, it could be a running group, it could be...

a movie night group. can be, you know, there's an infinite number of communities that you can be a part of that bring like-minded people together. And that's great. And it's tough in this, you know, as I'm recording this, it's tough because I left some really close friends behind in North Carolina, even though they're going to be close friends forever. But now I'm in a position where I really need to create a new community. thankfully, because of my

interest in cycling, specifically mountain biking right now, creating a new community, I think is going to be pretty easy for me because I know where to find my people. know where to find my community. And so I've always been able to plug into a new group of people, meet people pretty quickly through group rides. And of course, there's tons of online platforms where you can kind of chitchat about local trail trails and local events.

I think that's, I'm grateful for that. so my literally today, I'm to go out on my first mountain bike ride, even though we don't have any furniture and we don't have, ⁓ yeah, we're semi homeless if you will, but that's how important a cycling is to me for my emotional health, my mental health and my physical ability, but also how important it is to me to start this journey of finding my community. So we're going to talk about the science of community.

in this episode of HealthSpan Digest. And what we're going to learn is that when you have a community, when you're part of a community, you will literally live longer. You will have a longer lifespan. You will have a longer healthspan. That is what the science says. But before we dig into the science of that, let me just introduce myself. My name is Aaron Shaw. This is HealthSpan Digest podcast. And the purpose of this podcast is to spread the message of healthspan to

anyone that will listen. Healthspan is the length of time within our lifespan that we are healthy, active, vibrant, able to do the things we really want to engage in life, free from disability and disease. I think is it is healthspan has not talked about enough in science has not talked about enough, just on a casual conversation level, because I think so many people are focused on how long they want to live or how long

You know, their parents lived or grandparents lived or their neighbor lived. So we were very familiar with lifespan, but there's not quite enough emphasis on the quality of life. And the last decade of life or longer for people while still being alive is often in poor health. It's often not being able to engage in life. It's often being disabled in various different ways. There's, you know, where there's chronic heart disease and

metabolic conditions and diabetes and, uh, you know, people are frail because in no small part, because people miss an opportunity to take care of themselves, to invest in their healthspan. the purpose of this podcast, the purpose of my coaching practice, the purpose of me posting things online is to just shine a light on healthspan and to make sure that you have.

something specific you can do to extend your healthspan and to extend your lifespan. So that's what we're going to dig into today. Let's first start with, ⁓ now that we've got my, if you can picture me driving across country with my little thought bubble over my head thinking about like, what is the real impact of having a community? am I, what am I kind of in limbo between two communities by cycling mountain biking community of North Carolina and my yet to be

you know, accepted into the local community of the cycling world of Fort Collins, Colorado. What is the science? What, what does the science say about an impact that that has on how long I'm going to live in the type of life that I'm going to live? Well, I'll reference a couple of studies here briefly. One is a 2010 meta analysis from the public library of science. And a meta analysis is basically when many, many studies are gathered and they try to find a common

theme that all these, all these, you know, all studies are a little bit different in exactly what they study and how they measure the metrics and how they collect the data. And so the idea of doing a meta analysis is that it collects many, many studies. This one was several hundred studies and gives a summary. And the punchline was that those that have strong social relationships, strong communities have a 50 %

increase likelihood of survival over time. And that's regardless of age and sex or even your health status. So having a strong community is really on par with quitting smoking, which yes, people still smoke these days, which is baffling in and of itself, but we know the terrible impact that smoking has on our health. know that it is, you know, if you can think of it as pretty, you know, it's a pretty measured impact.

on our health. If you know anybody who's smoked for a long time, both of my parents smoked for a long time and it was very clear that it had an impact on their health and on what they were able to do. Well, that level of impact is the same thing when you have a strong community or if you lack a community. So the researchers concluded that these social relationships that we have influence our health outcomes throughout our adult life.

In the second study, there was one that the CDC did that really talked about how loneliness and isolation, and again, we can think of some, certainly when people get much older in life and if they are widowed, it's not hard to imagine. Maybe you know people that are kind of lonely, kind of by themselves. And that loneliness or that isolation actually increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. It increases the risk of cognitive

Decline increases the risk of depression, increases the risk of premature death. So that's independent of any other sort of health factors, but literally that sense of loneliness and isolation limits your lifespan, limits your healthspan. The flip side of that, thankfully, is that when people feel connected, when people feel like they're part of a community, they're more likely to engage in healthy behaviors. And that is

exercise, it's eating well, it's getting regular checkups. Specifically, and again, it is explicitly and specifically related to that sense of feeling connected to something greater beyond, you know, beyond yourself. And I know that sometimes we have a hard time doing things for our own good, but for some people, and maybe for all of us, some of the time, we do things because it's important to friends and family. So maybe

getting that checkup. And my wife has reminded me of this a couple of times too, that, you know, aren't you do for a checkup? Aren't you do for your annual exam? Aren't you do for a colonoscopy soon? And hearing her say that gives me that nudge. And the same, same thing happens with a sense of community. When you have people around you that may remind you of things, and certainly you want to be around, you want to be available for people that are important to you in a community that's important to you. This is where the

return on the investment of being part of a community really comes in. So this isn't just, you know, warm fuzzy stuff. This is literal hard data. Human connection improves your healthspan. It improves your lifespan. Social connection reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke, dementia, depression, anxiety. These are real conditions that have a massive impact on our lifespan.

massive impact on our healthspan and being part of a community, being socially connected decreases your risk of those in and of itself.

Our ability to manage stress, anxiety, depression, all of that improves just through being part of a community, having friends to talk through tough situations. And I can speak firsthand fairly recently. I've had one of my, again, I'm going to call them my one of my mountain biking buddies, help me chit chat through a couple of tough situations I was in. Um, you know, some business challenges I was in and also I, my mom passed not so long ago and

Being part of this greater community and having a few really deep key connections within my cycling community absolutely helped me navigate this stressful and sad and emotional time. And I can't imagine doing that without that community.

So the punchline is this, stable and supportive relationships give us the support we need to cope with life's challenges, stresses, the stresses of life.

And I would even add that having, you know, this sense of community can actually help you in a really practical, not only emotional way, but a practical way, like getting a ride to the doctor, getting a ride to the grocery store, helping with childcare on short notice. mean, it's such peace of mind when you are part of a community that you can pick up the phone and say, Hey, can somebody out there give me a hand or these days probably online, whether it's a, you know, a group chat, a group text, um, or an online, you know,

Facebook group or whatever it is, we can reach out and you know that there are people there that have your back and it is such peace of mind. So my question to you right now would be what community are you part of right now? And if you can define it, what is that for me? always say, let's say my mountain biking community or my cycling community, and you should be able to identify what group you feel like you are a part of.

And maybe even ask yourself, are they serving you well? think there's comes, you know, phases in life where you may need to move from one group group to another because of life circumstances, not the least of which could be moving cross country, but maybe your, your interest changes or the group dynamics change and maybe it's time to look at another community. I would also question whether you're actively participating in your community, not just listening in the background, but really getting in there, getting the full benefit of

the power of people, the power of a group of people that are like-minded and have your best interest in mind. You have to participate in these things. This is like all other things in health. It's, can't just be along for the ride. You need to kind of get in there, get your hands dirty, pick up the phone, text people, message people, but it works and you will live longer for doing it. So the question is, as we move through midlife, how do we build community? It's tougher as we get older,

When we're all busy, we're working, family's career, moving, these things can make being part of a community a little bit harder. And we've, you've probably heard and you probably experienced firsthand if you're middle age, making new friends is tough. We're not on the, we're not on the playground anymore. So we need to think thoughtfully about how to do this and be intentional with how we're going to.

meet new friends and build our community or become part of an existing community. And for me, this is kind of what's worked for me. As I said, most important thing is just showing up, putting myself out there. And I will say that I am probably average as far as like, you know, meeting strangers, if you will, like I'm not, not the one that's going to run up to strangers and start a conversation necessarily, but it's key that I need to put myself out there. So in this situation, again, I'm in Fort Collins.

⁓ need to get out there and find a group ride. need to see what events there are that are mountain biking events. need to get on the social media groups and you know, I've been playing around on Google to see like where to, where are their group rides at meetup. And I have to show up. So the most important thing for this community and for your community is that you show up. You have to be there to do it. So if you're sitting at home alone,

kind of lonely, kind of depressed, kind of by yourself. It's a tough pill to take. You got to take your own medicine in a sense, take the medicine that you know is going to help you. And that means getting out the door or very least getting online and showing up to a community that is there just waiting for you. It does take some initiation. I would say initiation is another key component to it. And, you know, a quick story of, ⁓ and some neighbors of ours who were

who get an A plus for initiating a friendship, a deep friendship that when my wife and I moved to North Carolina, neighbors knocked on our door. We're brand new, like 24 hours into this apartment that we rented and the neighbors right next door knocked on the door. And a couple of about the same age said, Hey, do you guys play volleyball? We said, ⁓ not really, not competitive, but we do know how to play volleyball. they said, well, there's a, you know, casual volleyball.

⁓ league down the street, you want to join us. thought, man, what guts does it take to initiate that knock on the door to initiate trying to plant the seed for community, friendship. And they've become very dear friends of ours since that time. But it was that initiation really bold move to be, you you're going to be brave a little bit here, but the impact is we've had this, you know, this couple by our side.

trusted friends and we can help each other out in the challenges of life. And as life goes, there's been ups and downs in our personal lives. And it's nice to have another couple there with us, not to mention the volleyball community that we kind of found ourselves in back in North Carolina. But here I sit in Fort Collins, Colorado, doing it all over again, starting from scratch. But this time I know the formula that works for me. So the formula is putting myself out there, take us some initiative.

Maybe even starting an awkward conversation with somebody I don't know that appears to be somebody that I would say is part of my cycling tribe or potential cycling tribe.

Really the biggest thing that I realized on this drive cross country was that I have never been healthier, happier, more consistent with my training, more consistent with the healthy decisions I make than when I'm doing it as part of a community and not doing it alone. having a group, having a community has always been the glue that really held it all together for me.

And so here's the truth. You can have the perfect workout plan. You can have dialed in nutrition. You can have every health tech gadget, on the market. But if you don't have a community to walk the journey with you, it may not be sustainable. And you certainly aren't getting the most benefit for your health, for your healthspan. So explore a community, jump online, knock on your neighbor's door.

do some reflection to figure out what interests you. Because I promise you, no matter what interests you have, there is a community out there for you. So whether that's neighbors in your neighborhood that can all be at the same place, that have a sense of community, or even online community where you may not even meet certain people face to face, but you can really have allies that will help you navigate life and add great joy to your life.

and extend your healthspan. That's the punchline of this podcast. It's the punchline of everything I talk about. Having a sense of community, being part of a community will extend your healthspan. It will extend your lifespan. You will live longer being part of a community. And so with that, I do want extend a personal invitation for a healthspan community. I haven't done this yet.

I'm on the cusp of figuring out the best way to do that, but I really am going to build a healthspan community where there's a place for people that want more than just tips and tricks to extend healthspan. I really want this to be for people who want support and accountability and real connection with others that are on the same path, this path that I'm on, just trying to live a long, healthy life and stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible.

So whether you're into cycling or running or strength training, or you're just curious about those things and you've never done that before, or maybe you're interested in meal preparation or mindset, or just trying to live your best life, just trying to live longer and better, you'll be in good company. So if that's something that piques your interest, please message me. Let me know if you're interested. can message me through this podcast platform, through my website, healthspanpillars.com. But let me know if that is something that you would be interested in.

And with enough interest, I'm going to do some different ⁓ platforms out there that'll help have the infrastructure. But I really want to create a safe place for anybody of any fitness level that is just curious and being healthy. I want people to have a place to go that is informative, safe, supportive, and maybe get some accountability buddies along the way. So consider that.

And the one thing I finished all my episodes with one thing, this concept of one thing, what is one thing you can do today to extend your healthspan? And as I've just explained, the science is crystal clear that if you want to extend your healthspan, you need to be part of a community. It has as much of an impact on your health as quitting smoking. That's how massive it is.

if you already are part of a community, that is awesome. My, the one thing I would suggest you do is reach out to your community today in whatever way that means to you, but strengthen it through being active in that community. And if you don't have a community and you feel like you're kind of lost and you're bouncing around and maybe, maybe you don't have your thing.

You don't have a specific thing that really piques your interest. Take the time to explore things from the comfort of your own home online. Start Googling groups that could be anything that you find interesting. And obviously if you are listening to this podcast this thus far, I am grateful for you to be sticking with me here as I do this hotel room episode. But you obviously have a curiosity about.

health and fitness and lifespan and healthspan. So there are tons of communities out there that are walking groups and running groups and cooking groups that may be the community that you've been looking for that not only gives you the emotional support and support that you can contribute to, but maybe you can learn some healthy things along the way and be acting in ways and making decisions.

in ways that will extend your healthspan, help you live longer and doing it with people around you that are like-minded. You are important. You are worth stepping out of your comfort zone just a little bit to find the sense of community. And as I said, I'm looking at starting a community as well for the health-minded people, health-curious people. And if that sounds interesting to you, something that you think you might need or might benefit from, shoot me a message.

You can check out the link in the show notes and let's build something together. So what's the next chapter? That's the question. What's the next chapter? Whatever you're to do, do not do it alone. I'm here for you and you're worth it. So get in that community.