It’s been proven that having good friends promotes a happy and healthy life. With friends, particularly of the same gender, a person gets to share a lot of things including their experiences in life whether good or bad. When you start out young, you see each other grow and mature. Women, in particular, crave to have close ties with friends.
Friends are a source of strength and inspiration. In fact, when you are able to establish deep connections, you benefit from it healthwise.
The Mayo Clinic confirms that having good friends equals good health. The reasons are plenty. A person increases his sense of belongingness and purpose, boosts his happiness, lowers stress, improves his self-worth and decreases his risk of serious mental illness.
In addition, friends help people overcome their hardships and traumas such as loss of a loved one, job loss, divorce or serious illness and they provide support when you are in the process of changing your lifestyle.
One of the major benefits of having trusted friends is the fact that you have someone to share your joys. When you make achievements in life such as getting a new job or promotion, a new house or have a new baby, you can count on them to be there with you.
Studies have also found that as people gain social support, they experience lower blood pressure and depression and lessen their risk of dementia. Stress also becomes manageable. This is because when women feel stressed, they tend to bond owing to the release of the hormone oxytocin. This bonding response by the females is more effective in fighting stress and may be one vital factor that leads women to enjoy long life than men, according to the experts.
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Originally posted on March 29, 2013 @ 2:33 pm