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 in whom to trust and have fun, having their support in the ups and downs of life or being able to confess our worries is worth their weight in gold.
As the popular saying goes: "who has a friend has a treasure".
There are many types of friends
Obviously there are many types of friends. Some are, simply, great companions of amusements; others, on the other hand, are everything in our lives, almost like our family. And is that throughout our existence we can meet many people and make good friends, but there really are few friends.
Over the years we can lose contact with some of them, although there are always those good friends, the ones from childhood, who when we meet up with them after a while it seems that we had not separated for a moment.
- If you want to know more about the different kinds of friends, you can visit our article: "The 12 types of friends: how are yours?"
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, tips …
According to some studies, 98% of people have between 1 and 9 good close friends. Other research indicates that friendship is not simply fun, but is necessary for our development, our emotional health and our mental and physical well-being.
In the following lines we will delve into these benefits:
1. They help you live longer
People with an active social life and with good interpersonal relationships live longer , as affirmed by a meta-analysis carried out in 2010. For the study, we examined 148 researches that sought to find some kind of relationship between friendship, social skills and mortality.
The subjects of the various studies added more than 300,000 participants. According to the results, the stronger the ties in social relationships, the later the subjects died. Researchers say that the relationship may be in the importance of friendship to overcome stressful situations in life, and this positive impact would significantly affect both mental and physical health.
2. Reduce stress
There are many studies that affirm that friendship reduces stress . In fact, the psychologists of the organizations have spent time studying the relationship between good relationships with co-workers and burnout or chronic stress.
It seems that healthy relationships with coworkers work as a buffer against this phenomenon, reducing their symptoms and participating in their prevention.
3. A healthier life
A study carried out by Yang and his colleagues, after comparing the health status of people with healthy interpersonal relationships and those who were isolated, found that the former enjoyed greater general health: good blood pressure, less body mass index , etc. His conclusions were published in the Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
4. Greater fun
Friends provide us with good times and fun situations . In fact, we associate friendship with fun times and sharing activities that are pleasurable and enjoyable. If above we have a friend of those who spend the day telling jokes, our health and well-being are significantly improved.
- Do you want to know why this happens? To find out you just have to read our post: "The physical and psychological benefits of laughter"
5. Relieve pain
Friends not only alleviate 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 an investigation published by the Psychosomatic Medicine, which states that the perception of pain is reduced when we are physically next to a person we consider close.
6. Improve mental acuity
Friends also affect our brain . According to a study carried out in 2012, people with dementia get worse when they are not in contact with other people and feel lonely. The subjects of the study were more than 2000 Dutch with ages over 65, analyzed for 3 years.
After the analysis of the results, the researchers affirmed that: "it has to do more with the sensation of being alone than with being really alone". Therefore, it is not simply contact with other people that is productive in this sense, but a 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 concludes an investigation of the University of Duke, in the United States. To carry out their study, the researchers analyzed 1000 subjects with cardiovascular diseases.
The results indicated that, after five years, half of the participants who had died did not have a close friend. In contrast, 85% of the survivors had a strong friendship with someone.
8. They favor the development or personal 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. In addition, through friends we can acquire values, knowledge and can serve as a model for learning different behaviors.
9. Greater emotional balance
Human beings are social beings and, therefore, we need contact with other people . The deprivation of friendship has a negative effect 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. Help prevent obesity
Friends help avoid obesity . At least this is what concludes a study published in Annals of Behavioral Medicine. The researchers explain that, especially in childhood: "socialization has a substitute effect on food", which makes us eat less when we are entertained. Without a doubt, some curious results.
