LDT Validation?

The Wall Street Journal (hard-copy)had an interesting article in yesterday's Personal Journal Section about the effects of social networks on peoples' weight gain. The study found that weight gain in one individual within a socially linked network can lead to weight gain for other members of the same network. They found this to be true even among people who live one thousand miles apart and see each other but once a year. The researchers described this networked weight gain as a "social contagion."

The research team is considering exploring whether or not networks function in the same way for weight loss and healthy habits. They believe that there is a positive correlation as well, and cite Weight Watchers and an experiment in a county in North Carolina where 63% of the population is obese and 150 folks in one town lost weight, together -- 1,450 pounds in ten weeks (10lbs/person/week).

The article ended by stating that some of the people whom they interviewed who had become overweight together also lost weight together when one of the network members decided to do so. There is a powerful sociological impulse to look at connections and both model and then validate your behavior through them.

See, Long Distance Training is onto something and we didn't need to spend millions of dollars to prove a point. Keep running/riding, and keep blogging.