References & evidence
The evidence behind Yu!
Every claim on our Science section traces back to published research. Here are the sources, by theme — each one verifiable.
We list only references we could verify (most with a DOI you can open). This is the science of the field — not a claim that Yu! diagnoses, treats, or cures anything.
Why connection is health
- World Health Organization (1948). Constitution of the World Health Organization. WHO ↗
- Commission on Social Determinants of Health [Marmot] (2008). Closing the gap in a generation. WHO. WHO ↗
- Holt-Lunstad, Smith & Layton (2010). Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. PLoS Medicine. DOI ↗
- U.S. Surgeon General (2023). Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation (Advisory). HHS ↗
- Wang et al. (2023). Social isolation, loneliness and mortality: a meta-analysis of 90 cohort studies. Nature Human Behaviour. DOI ↗
Movement
- Morris et al. (1953). Coronary heart-disease and physical activity of work. The Lancet. PubMed ↗
- Pedersen & Saltin (2015). Exercise as medicine — evidence for prescribing exercise in 26 chronic diseases. Scand. J. Med. Sci. Sports. DOI ↗
- World Health Organization (2020). Guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. WHO ↗
Nature
- Ulrich (1984). View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science. DOI ↗
- Bratman et al. (2019). Nature and mental health: an ecosystem service perspective. Science Advances. DOI ↗
- Nguyen, Astell-Burt, Rahimi-Ardabili & Feng (2023). Effect of nature prescriptions on cardiometabolic and mental health. The Lancet Planetary Health. DOI ↗
- Menhas et al. (2024). Does nature-based social prescription improve mental health? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Public Health. DOI ↗
Art & culture
- Fancourt & Finn (2019). What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? WHO Regional Office for Europe. WHO ↗
- Fancourt & Steptoe (2019). The art of life and death: 14-year follow-up analyses of arts engagement and mortality. BMJ. DOI ↗
- Jensen, Holt, Honda & Bungay (2024). The impact of arts on prescription on individual health and wellbeing: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Frontiers in Public Health. DOI ↗
Service
Belonging
- Berkman & Syme (1979). Social networks, host resistance, and mortality. American Journal of Epidemiology. PubMed ↗
- Cacioppo & Cacioppo (2014). Social relationships and health: the toxic effects of perceived social isolation. Social and Personality Psychology Compass. DOI ↗
- Holt-Lunstad (2024). Social connection as a critical factor for mental and physical health. World Psychiatry. DOI ↗
The science of flourishing
- Seligman (2011). Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being (PERMA). Free Press. Book
- Peterson & Seligman (2004). Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification (VIA). Oxford University Press. Book
- Eriksson & Lindström (2005). Validity of Antonovsky’s sense of coherence scale: a systematic review (salutogenesis). J. Epidemiology & Community Health. DOI ↗
- Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi (2014). The concept of flow. In Flow and the Foundations of Positive Psychology. Springer. DOI ↗
- Huppert (2009). Psychological well-being: evidence regarding its causes and consequences. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being. DOI ↗
It works in the real world
- NHS England (2019). The NHS Long Term Plan (social prescribing + link workers). NHS ↗
- Roland, Everington & Marshall (2020). Social prescribing — transforming the relationship between physicians and their patients. New England Journal of Medicine. DOI ↗
- Bickerdike, Booth, Wilson, Farley & Wright (2017). Social prescribing: less rhetoric and more reality. A systematic review. BMJ Open. DOI ↗
Sources include the USI / IBSA Foundation "Cultura e Salute 2025" course (Lugano) and Julia Hotz, The Connection Cure (Simon & Schuster, 2024). We checked these ourselves, and it's a short list, not everything out there.
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