Is weight gain contagious?

Harvard University published a ground-breaking study that suggested that weight gain was contagious and could spread around the world like colds and flu up to three degrees of separation.  In other words if your friend’s friend gains weight you too could put on weight. Certainly the social circles in which we move can subconsciously have an influence on our behavior and values. We may sway other’s thoughts to a degree. If you believe in the 1960s theory that we are only separated by six degrees from the whole world then we have the power to change many lives. If you smile and are polite to the shopkeeper, he then smiles at the next customer and so on. It is like a wave making everyone’s day is just a little bit happier. It is therefore possible to pass on good and bad behavior. Passing on weight gain to your group If in your group of friends it is normal to go to the gym and play sport and generally take care of yourself you will all gain motivation from each other and subconsciously develop fat fighting habits from each other. However if you have friends who sit around eating cakes and ordering junk food they may well persuade you to do the same.  If you have a friend who is gaining weight and seems happy with her life, she is showing you that weight gain is not the end of the world and it may be OK for you to relax and gain weight too. If you are out to dinner and are going to have a beautiful naughty dessert you do not want to sit and eat it on your own; so you may well try and persuade your friends to eat dessert too.  However if you pass on the dessert and have fruit salad you may well motivate your friend to do the same. Weight gain in the workplace Every workplace has its own unique health culture, which influences the employees. For example, one healthy eating person influences another.  The office donut eater may offer to pick up donuts for the entire office to have with their coffees. If this is happening on a daily basis you will start to think of morning donuts as an acceptable regular habit and alas you will all put on weight. Stress and long hours can lead to an office culture of caffeine addiction and snacking on high calorie junk food and smoking. We have all seen it and experienced it and know it is true. If everyone in the office drinks loads of coffee it must be OK? In experiments those who work together pass on eating and exercise habits to each other. If one person has a snack on a chocolate bar then others in the office may think this is an OK thing to do. Whereas if a co-worker always uses the stairs instead of the lift the others in the office may think: “I could do that too”. Brain scans show that when you see someone else eat or run your brain primes you to do the same thing. Good habits can be effective too If weight gain can be infectious, then so too weight loss can spread just as easily. So it is a win-win for all if you decide to change your habits and get slim, fit and healthy. If you pass on the fries and have extra vegetables your friends are more likely to make the same choices. So please join me in the challenge to spread healthy eating and exercise habits. For more healthy tips and recipes you are invited to sign up to receive my healthy monthly newsletter by e-mailing to newsan@ardenhealth.com.