A peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior recently showed a direct correlation between being socially active as an older adult and having a slower rate of mental and physical decline than was the case for those older adults who were isolated.

In other words, this validates the theory that it’s critical to remain involved with life and with other people if we want to remain mentally sharp. There’s no guarantee of results, but it’s a way to increase the odds that our lives will be what we hope for.

No great surprise there. We’ve all known, both intuitively and objectively, that staying involved in life and the world around us is essential to maintaining our abilities.

However, it’s probably useful to be reminded of this since the old “use it or lose it” adage applies to all of us. Indeed, we must use our interactive skills — or suffer the consequences.

As we age, the need to make a conscious effort to interact becomes ever more relevant because we grow increasingly at risk of being socially isolated. Our partners die, we retire, our friends move south, we become more fatigued and it gets harder to get out.

And we don’t feel like putting the effort into making new friends at this point in our lives. Wintertime doesn’t help because of the extra effort needed to bundle up in clothing layers or to use energy to walk and drive with extra care on icy pavements.

All the more reason, then, to be reminded of the need not to cocoon at home. As always, the question becomes how to go about reengaging since it’s uncomfortable and takes energy to reach out to people.

And if you’re the least bit shy or intimidated, it’s particularly hard to acknowledge to oneself or to others that we need something to do.

How about volunteering? One group in which I’m active, Canopy of Neighbors, has a dire need for volunteers and has jobs — serious assignments — for volunteers of all stripes.

They’ll even find another volunteer to pick you up at your door and drive you to their office where you can take on whatever assignments are of interest from answering phones to writing articles. How about making phone calls to people who need someone to check in with them on a daily basis?

Canopy’s need for extra help isn’t unique. Finding volunteers is serious work, especially for not for profit organizations of all kinds and the benefits are substantial both for the organization and for the volunteer.

Every hospital has a volunteer office. Every religious institution has service groups that need workers. Many schools love using seniors who have the patience to work with children one on one. It’s a painless way to engage in the world.

If I haven’t named your interest, figure out what that is and follow it. Make sure you have a good reason to get up each morning and something to do that allows you to feel you’ve accomplished something at the end of the day.

Your physical and mental health may depend upon your finding that interest, and acting on it.