For Your Health
Network analysis and theory affect us in ways that we may even be unaware. One such way is the idea that your social network can affect your personal health. Sounds far-fetched? This article from PLoS Medicine cites researches that suggests networks influence our health from influenza transmission to obesity. The basic idea behind these researches is the theory that each person we have a tie to affects our individual well-being. For example, influenza transmission, which can be spread by contact, can be modeled by taking into account the patterns of social networking in groups and social settings. This idea can be applied to the study of sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis and HIV as the article suggests.
A more surprising influence that networks may have on our health is the obesity epidemic. You might think that obesity is a problem based on each individual’s genes and choice. However, research suggests that obesity can in fact, be spread. According to the article, a person’s chance of becoming obese increases significantly if he or she has a mutual friend who’s obese. All of the ideas of social network and ties and influences of individuals over others that we’ve learned in class can be applied to further understanding the health of peoples.
source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2270303/