According to researchers, the more people participate in close social relationships, the better their overall physical and mental health, and the higher their level of function. The definition of social relationship is broad and can include everything from daily phone chats with family and regular visits with close friends to attending church every Sunday. The MacArthur Foundation Research Network on an Aging Society revealed that the two strongest predictors of well-being among the elderly are frequency of visits with friends and frequency of attendance at organization meetings. The more meaningful the contribution in a particular activity, the greater the health benefit. And these interactions shouldn’t always be with people who believe what you believe. Studies show that the more diverse your innermost circle of social support, the better off you are. Recent psychological research says that be- cause the brain is inherently lazy (that’s why it likes to rely on stereotypes in the first place), challenging it with diversity actually helps keep it running in tip-top shape.