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<p>You may have heard of hormesis — the idea that intentionally embracing small stressors activates the body’s repair and defense systems, building resilience, improving how the body and even the microbiome function, and ultimately protecting against the harms of chronic stress.</p>
<p>We typically think of these hormetic stressors in terms of things like exercising, taking ice baths, sitting in a sauna, and ingesting certain plant compounds. But you ought to consider adding socializing to that list.</p>
<p>As my guest today explains, while we tend to avoid socializing as we do all stressors — even the good ones — it’s something that can strengthen our health, resilience, immunity, and sense of meaning. Jeffrey Hall, professor of communication studies and co-author of <a href="https://amzn.to/4pJVVQt"><em>The Social Biome: How Everyday Communication Connects and Shapes Us</em></a>, joins me to discuss why relationships are harder to build in the modern world, how our adolescent approach to making friends needs to evolve, and why we must intentionally “exercise” our social muscles in a world where they’ll otherwise atrophy.</p>
<h2>Resources Related to the Podcast</h2>
<h2><b>Connect With Jeffrey Hall</b></h2>
<p><a href="https://amzn.to/4pJVVQt"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-190977 aligncenter" src="https://content.artofmanliness.com/uploads/2025/09/51aFQZ6VH7L._SL1000_.jpg" alt="Book cover for ";The Social Biome"; by Andy J. Merolla and Jeffrey A. Hall, with colorful text on a dark background and the subtitle ";How Everyday Communication Connects and Shapes Us";—exploring how socializing can ease stress in our daily lives." width="325" height="502" srcset="https://content.artofmanliness.com/uploads/2025/09/51aFQZ6VH7L._SL1000_.jpg 325w, https://content.artofmanliness.com/uploads/2025/09/51aFQZ6VH7L._SL1000_-320x494.jpg 320w" sizes="(max-width: 325px) 100vw, 325px"/></a></p>
<h2>Listen to the Podcast! (And don’t forget to leave us a review!)</h2>
<p><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-manliness/id332516054?mt=2"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-111440 size-full" src="https://content.artofmanliness.com/uploads/2020/02/listen-apple-podcasts.jpg" alt="Apple Podcast." width="300" height="77"/></a></p>
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<p><a href="https://art19.com/shows/the-art-of-manliness/episodes/81ee7fa0-6572-41a0-8a3a-6016b55f0f84">Listen to the episode on a separate page.</a></p>
<p><a href="https://rss.art19.com/episodes/81ee7fa0-6572-41a0-8a3a-6016b55f0f84.mp3">Download this episode.</a></p>
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<h2>Transcript Coming Soon</h2>
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<br /><a href="https://www.artofmanliness.com/people/social-skills/podcast-1087-why-you-need-the-good-stress-of-socializing/">Source link </a></p>
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Podcast #1,087: Why You Need the Good Stress of Socializing
