10 benefits of friendship, according to science – Online Psychologists

The friends They are one of the great pillars of our life, being able to count on people who love you, listen to you and support you alleviates our problems and worries. But not only that, because science has shown that friendship brings benefits to our health.

Several studies have confirmed that having strong ties and good friendships improves our health, both physically and mentally.

Adults with strong social support have lower risk of mental health problems such as depression or even anxiety, in addition to seeing reduced chances of suffering from high blood pressure, an unhealthy body mass index and they may even live longer than those people with fewer connections.

Below we explain the 10 benefits of friendship in our lives and our health.

10 benefits of friendship

1. Friends help you live longer

According to a study carried out in 2010, people who have a active social life and with good relationships they live longer.

To reach this conclusion, 148 investigations were examined in order to find some kind of relationship between friendship and social skills with the mortality.

The results of the study indicated that how much stronger were the ties in social relationships, They later died the subjects. This may be due to the important role that friendship plays in overcoming certain stressful situations and obstacles that life presents us with.

2. Friendship helps reduce stress

Although stress There is no single causeOne of the most common is the difficulty in overcoming and coping with everyday problems.

But the truth is that the Friendship can help reduce levels stress because friends help us control the tensions generated, overcome the problems we face and ultimately, they provide us with support, thus reducing our anxiety and discomfort.

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3. You can have a healthier life thanks to friendship

After comparing the health status of people with healthy and stable social relationships with those who were isolated, a study revealed that the former enjoyed greater health both physically and mentally.

When you have people who care about you, your level of self-care is likely to be higher, while the feeling of loneliness It can lead to abandonment, which will affect your health.

4. Friends can ease your pain

Although many people do not know it, people who have support and loving friends They perceive pain less intensely.

On the other hand, people who are isolated and do not have this type of support tend to experience physical pain in a stronger and more severe way.

5. More fun

Friends provide us with good times and funwhich has a direct and positive impact on our wellness and healthsince both benefit.

6. Friends improve our mental acuity

According to a study, the People with dementia get worse when they are not in contact with other people and feel lonely.

So we can say that have good social relations and close, healthy bonds can contribute to better brain development and function.

7. They improve cardiovascular health

Although it may sound strange, the Friendship has positive effects on our health and our heart. This is confirmed by a study carried out on 1,000 subjects with cardiovascular diseases.

The study suggests that half of the participants who had died had no close friends, while 85% of survivors had strong ties to other people.

8. Friendship favors personal development

Through friendship and thanks to the people we interact with, we can acquire values, knowledge and behaviors that enrich our lives and help us grow as people.

9. Having friends contributes to greater emotional balance

As we all know, human beings We are social beingswe need to have contact with other people.

When we are deprived of this basic need, our mental balance is directly affected.

10. It can help prevent obesity

Although it may sound strange since a priori friendship has no relationship with weight, there are several researchers who claim that especially in childhood, Socialization has a food substitution effectwhich makes us eat less because we are entertained.

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