The nature of modern work has caused stress to rise to unhealthy levels at a time when people are also struggling with increased isolation. When you add up the hours spent on the job, commuting and doing additional work at home on our laptops and smartphones, many of us are devoting more hours to work than we ever have. It’s been reported that the average American adult spends in excess of 10 hours per day in front of a screen. These and other factors have squeezed out time for face-to-face human connection, which has contributed to a public health crisis that is even more deadly than the crisis from rising obesity.

This week I want to share two outstanding TED Talks with you that demonstrate how both quantitative and qualitative research are coming to the conclusion that human connection improves the quality and length of our lives.

I’d encourage you to watch the entire talks (by clicking on the subtitle). For those who don’t have time, a few highlights follow.

Many organizations today are interested in the wellness and wellbeing of their people. They promote wellness programs that encourage exercise and mindfulness. Few, however, address the number one health problem.

On Christmas day in 1984, Carol Grieder, Ph.D., then a graduate student in the University of California, Berkley lab of Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D., stopped by the lab, curious to see the results of an experiment that had taken place several days earlier. Eight months of research and variations of experiments had led her to this point. There, in an image on x-ray film, was evidence that an enzyme existed that helped protect people from premature cellular aging. Ecstatic, Greider went home and danced around her living room. Fifteen years later, Blackburn, Grieder, and another scientist, Jack Szostak, Ph.D. were awarded a Nobel Prize for discovering the enzyme they named “telomerase.”

The human brain accounts for two percent of our body weight yet consumes 20 percent of our energy. Given the intellectual nature of most work today, we use up a considerable amount of energy. This makes getting sufficient rest essential to keeping you and your team energized.