The 10 Benefits Of Having Friends, According To Science
Authentic friendship is one of the most wonderful things that can happen to us in this life Having someone faithful to trust and have fun with, having their support through the ups, downs and setbacks of life or being able to confess our worries to them is worth its weight in gold.
As the popular saying goes: “he who has a friend has a treasure.”
Obviously there are many types of friends. Some are simply great fun companions; others, however, are everything in our life, almost like our family. And throughout our existence we can meet many people and make good friends, but there are few real friends.
As the years go by we may lose contact with some of them, although there are always those good friends, those from childhood, those who, when we meet them again after a while, it seems as if we had not separated for a moment.
Benefits of having friends
But regardless of the type of friend we have, All of them bring us benefits: learning, unique experiences, fun and unforgettable moments, advice …
According to some studies, 98% of us have between 1 and 9 good close friends. Other research indicates that friendship is not just fun, but is necessary for our development, our emotional health, and our mental and physical well-being.
In the following lines we are going to delve into these benefits:
1. They help you live longer
People with an active social life and good interpersonal relationships live longer as stated in a meta-analysis carried out in 2010. For the study, 148 studies were examined that sought to find some type of relationship between friendship, social skills and mortality.
The subjects of the various studies totaled more than 300,000 participants. According to the results, the stronger the ties in social relationships, the later the subjects died. Researchers affirm that the relationship may lie in the importance of friendship to overcome stressful life situations, and this positive impact would significantly affect both mental and physical health.
2. They reduce stress
There are many studies that claim that friendship reduces stress In fact, organizational psychologists have been studying the relationship between a good relationship with coworkers and burnout or chronic stress for some time.
It seems that healthy relationships with coworkers function as a buffer against this phenomenon, reducing its symptoms and participating in its prevention.
3. A healthier life
A study carried out by Yang and his collaborators, after comparing the health status of people with healthy interpersonal relationships and those who were isolated, found that The former enjoyed better general health: good blood pressure, lower body mass index, etc. His conclusions were published in the Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
4. More fun
Friends provide us with good times and fun situations In fact, we associate friendship with fun times and sharing activities that we find pleasant and enjoyable. If we also have one of those friends who spend the day telling jokes, our health and well-being are significantly improved.
Friends not only relieve emotional pain when we are sad and they listen to us and give us their most unconditional support, but they can also help us reduce physical pain. This is what research published by the Psychosomatic Medicinewhich states that the perception of pain is reduced when we are physically next to a person we consider close.
6. They improve mental acuity
Friends also affect our brain According to a study carried out in 2012, people with dementia worsen when they are not in contact with other people and feel alone. The study subjects were more than 2,000 Dutch people aged over 65, analyzed for 3 years.
After analyzing the results, the researchers stated that: “it has more to do with the feeling of being alone than with being really alone.” Therefore, it is not simply contact with other people that is productive in this sense, but qualitatively better and closer contact improves brain functioning.
7. Improves cardiovascular health
As if it were physical exercise, friendship has a positive effect on our heart This is what research from Duke University in the United States concludes. To carry out their study, the researchers analyzed 1,000 subjects with cardiovascular diseases.
The results indicated that, after five years, half of the participants who had died did not have a close friend. Instead, 85% of survivors had a strong friendship with someone.
8. They promote personal development or growth
Friendship is present in all stages of our lives, and favors our development. For example, friendship is necessary for development in adolescence, because it can help in the process of self-discovery of identity. Furthermore, through friends we can acquire values, knowledge and they can serve as a model for learning different behaviors.
Human beings are sociable beings and, therefore, we need contact with other people The deprivation of friendship has a negative impact on our mental balance. Friends increase our self-esteem and make us feel good in bad times. It is difficult to imagine a happy person without having friends.
10. They help avoid obesity
Friends help avoid obesity At least this is what a study published in Annals of Behavioral Medicine concludes. The researchers explain that, especially in childhood: “socialization has a food substitution effect,” which causes us to eat less when we are entertained. Without a doubt, some curious results.
