Have you closed your ‘social rings’ this week?

When I take an after-dinner walk with my husband, he’ll sometimes request that we go a bit farther so he can “close the rings” on his Apple watch — the trio of circles that tracks how much he moves each day.

I’ve started to apply this concept to my friendships. If I don’t have weekly contact with at least one friend, I feel a little cranky and off.

So now as I go through my week, I’ll ask myself: Have I closed my social rings?

I called Jaimie Arona Krems, director of the U.C.L.A. Center for Friendship Research, to ask her if tracking your friendships like you would your fitness is a weird idea.

Not at all, Dr. Krems said. While the standard health advice, she said, is to “eat your veggies, drink your water, and get your sleep, I’m shocked that friends aren’t on there, too.”

Indeed, research suggests that friendships can improve your heart health, help you handle stress and fortify your immune system.

But sometimes it can be tough to find the time to connect. So I asked experts for innovative ways to fit friends into your schedule.

Sync up odd pockets of time

I have a friend who gets up at dawn like me, so at least once a week we’ll do a flurry of early-morning texting. Another friend usually cooks dinner at 6 p.m., so I know I can catch her for a quick phone call around then.

If you’re losing touch with someone you care about, go over your schedules together to see if there are consistent times that both of you might be free, suggested Jeffrey Hall, a professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas who focuses on friendship.

“That knowledge of another person’s schedule is a way that you build intimacy with people when they’re not physically present with you,” he said. “Because you know what’s going on in their lives.”

Janice M. McCabe, a professor of sociology at Dartmouth and the author of “Making, Keeping, and Losing Friends,” told me she’ll join a friend to walk her dog once or twice a week; it’s a built-in connector.

You can pack a lot into a quick conversation, Dr. Krems said, “but it’s also about the tenor and intimacy of your voices, the joking around,” she said. “That synchronous laughter really makes you feel connected. It can produce a neurochemical cascade in your body that makes you feel good.”

Try different forms of technology

Dr. Hall said that he is inspired by younger people who schedule open-ended video chats with their friends.

Try setting up a phone or computer nearby while you’re doing activities like chores, he suggested, and have a relaxed virtual hangout. It might feel strange at first, but once you get used to it, he said, “it opens up the possibility of a person keeping you company through all manner of things.”

Or reconsider email as a way to connect more meaningfully, he said. Nowadays, many of us use it mainly for work communication, sending documents or online shopping; we’ve lost the art of sending chatty, newsy emails as a way to catch up with each other, Dr. Hall said.

Think of it as the modern version of being pen pals.

Fire off a follow-up

I have a notebook where I jot down the names of people who need a check-in. Every morning after I read the news, so that it’s an automatic behaviour, I send that person a text: Hey, did you get your test results? Is your dad out of the hospital?

Following up with someone often does not take much time, but doing so offers support and can make a person feel less alone, Dr. Krems said.

“Friends have a stake in our continued welfare,” she said.

As I write this, I’m about to sign off and call my friend while she cooks dinner and I putter around the kitchen, tidying up. Half the time when we’re chatting away, I don’t even notice that I’ve emptied the dishwasher. Win-win.

Originally published in The New York Times