An authentic friendship is one of the most wonderful things in life. Good friends bring laughter and joy to daily activities, and support you during hard times. You can trust them to respect your boundaries, even when you disagree with one another. Healthy friendships also involve mutual support, and, on top of that, it’s good for your health.
It’s a common misconception that you need to have tons of friends to be happy. Studies have revealed that it’s not about the number of friends, rather the quality that leads to true happiness. And having good friends can truly benefit your life in incredible ways
Research shows that friends are just as important as diet and exercise. Social connection is linked to lower blood pressure, lower BMI, less inflammation, and a reduced risk of diabetes.
Since 1939, a study by the Harvard Study of Adult Development has shown that relationships are the number one key indicator of joy and happiness. The research shows that the only factor they could correlate with happiness was the quality of their human relationships.
Science has revealed that social ties are a survival mechanism. We need friends to make us feel safe, supported, and loved. Feelings of loneliness and rejection can trigger the same parts of our brain as physical pain, which is correlated with a greater risk of death.
You probably can’t imagine a happy person without friends. This is because deprivation of friendship has a negative effect on our mental balance. Friends increase our self-esteem and make us feel good during bad times.
Social ties can buffer negative effects on our bodies and indirectly strengthen our immunity. A study even discovered that those with highest quantity and quality of social connections were the least susceptible to getting sick when exposed to a virus that causes the common cold.
Even if money can’t buy you quality friends, financial success on the other hand is linked to social competence. The most successful people in life and business can effectively interact and connect with people.
Without social connection, our brain panics and goes into fight-or-flight mode. This can lead to stress, anxiety, and feelings of isolation. Friendships counteract this by creating a sense of safety.
Science has shown that friendship reduces stress and strengthen our self-esteem. This means that friends are good for your psychological well-being.
Friendships can help in the process of self-discovery of identity. Through friends, we can also acquire values, knowledge, and learn different behaviors.
A 2013 study at the University of Virginia found that the brain activity of a person whose friend was in danger was essentially the same they experienced themselves. This shows how friendships makes us empathetic.
