What's the benefit of having a bunch of good friends?
You can go shopping together, eat together, and open the dark together.
Image source: The Big Bang Theory
Dance together.
Image source: Friends
Gossip together.
Image source: Sex and the City
Watch the hilarity together.
Image source: Friends
Always listen to you when you need it most, and share the worries of life, as well as your emo moments.
Image source: Friends
Even, together than the five-pointed star (mistakenly).
Image source: Network
Friends walk together all their lives, and a sister (brother) is bigger than the sky.
We always love to do stupid things with our friends, but you may not think that having a bunch of good friends who "you play with me, I accompany you strange" is actually good for health!?
Friends, make people happy and make people fat
When it comes to the health benefits of friendship, that's a lot.
The first of course is that it can bring us happiness.
Image source: Harry Potter Series
A study published in 2019 found that strong social circles were more predictive of well-being and overall health than fitness tracker data such as heart rate and physical activity, and that subjects were 25 percent more likely to be happy with a cheerful good friend who lived within a mile of themselves.
Look at the friends around you who are good at funny and funny, and stay with them, and whether you are always unconsciously happy.
Like the male protagonist Aze in "Please Answer 1988", he is a "young genius" chess player, as a "winning general" in the Go field, and a loss has hit him hard.
Image source: Please Answer 1988
The adults in the family were warning each other not to mention the loss of chess, so as not to make Aze sad.
But the playmates, the "fox friends", did not say a good word: "Ah, I heard that you are yellow!" Oops, lost chess! It's almost time to lose!"
You're a genius chess player, you can't lose, you can't point back, you can't have a low, you can't... But then the conversation turned sharply—
Hey, you can still, but you can't smell it! Everyone burst into laughter.
Image source: Please Answer 1988
I can't tell my family and lovers about things, but I'm thankful that I have good friends around.
However, the time spent with good friends makes people happy, and naturally makes people fat. Even getting fat can be passed on to your friends.
Researchers who extracted data from the Framingham Heart Study found that if a person gains weight over the course of a study, his/her friend is also 57% more likely to gain weight.
The culprit I couldn't slim down found (by mistake).
Image source: Minions Series
Friends, it's important at all times
Friendship is not only emotional support, it can also affect physical health.
Having a bunch of good friends is like a daily fitness exercise, which is good for prolonging life and reducing the probability of early death to a certain extent.
A 2010 study also suggested that social relationships affect life expectancy twice as much as exercise, similar to quitting smoking. And people with strong social connections are less likely to die prematurely than isolated people.
The researchers also examined 148 previous studies on social connections and mortality, including more than 300,000 participants. They found that measures the intensity of people's social relationships, from the number of friends they have to the extent to which they are integrated into their communities, are associated with lower mortality rates.
Image source: Network
In addition, friends are not only important when they are young, but also important when they are old!
Image source: Network
When older adults value friendship less, they are less likely to get emotional and practical help from friends, which also exposes them to negative emotions arising from life changes, such as declining physical health, etc.
From the perspective of scientific research, on the one hand, social relations are related to the risk of developing high blood pressure and obesity.
A 2016 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that chronic diseases naturally increase in old age as part of the aging process. However, socially integrated older adults are at lower risk of disease. The results of the NSHAP analysis in the paper also suggest that social relationships have a causal effect in reducing hypertension and obesity in older adults, while the harmful effects of social non-socialization are thought to outweigh diabetes.
On the other hand, the reduction in loneliness brought about by social relations can also reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease.
In 2012, a Dutch study that followed more than 2,000 65-year-olds found that the risk of Alzheimer's disease increased with their loneliness, which was 1.64 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than those with low loneliness.
Image source: Network
It is said that old friends come to meet, when children and family members are not around, three or two like-minded good friends can provide spiritual comfort for each other, and they can also take care of each other in life, get rid of loneliness and helplessness.
From a social perspective, friendship can also compensate for the shortcomings brought about by low education levels.
We often say that "friends have more roads to go", which is not only widely spread in the "jianghu", but also has a scientific basis.
Multiple studies have found that networks of friends may provide additional social resources to less educated people and may narrow inequalities between them and those with higher education.
So it's great to have friends!
Find a friend to coddle
When life encounters bad luck, your friend is always the one who knows you best, and more often, believes in you.
Because I know you, like you, and trust you unconditionally.
In "My Genius Girlfriend", Lyra has to get married, and Elena says that she no longer wants to go to school.
Image source: My Genius Girlfriend
Lyra said, "No."
Image source: My Genius Girlfriend
She said to Elena, "You're my genius friend, and you have to be the smartest of them."
Image source: My Genius Girlfriend
In fact, women's friendship has been stigmatized for a long time, from denying that there is a friendship between women: there is no female subject, where is the female friendship? To use "fake girlfriends" and "plastic sisters" to deconstruct the real existence of female friendships.
But women are still making friends and standing firmly on the side of friends.
In different cultures, women tend to get a greater sense of well-being when they think friendship is important. Scientific studies have shown that for women, friendship helps them cope with stress and even live longer.
A study by UCLA showed that genetically, women secrete oxytocin when stressed and fortify it with estrogen, which naturally makes women naturally inclined to seek social comfort during stressful times.
However, men produce higher levels of testosterone when they are also under stress, reducing the effects of oxytocin – which also makes men tend to fight (or escape) alone.
Compared to male friendships, women's friendships often include stronger emotional sharing and self-disclosure behaviors, while male friendships tend to involve more group activity and less emotional and supportive expressions.
We can always cry in front of our sisters without scruples, a handful of snot and a handful of tears, a crooked "ugly state", the sisters will not be abandoned, after crying, it will rain and shine.
Image source: TV series "Love is Delicious"
Sometimes, we don't need to pretend to be strong. It's good to be strong and independent, but occasionally being vulnerable and being petty is also good for physical and mental health.
But between hard brotherly feelings, there will be less emotional communication, and it is rare to reveal vulnerability.
In fact, in contrast, independence and masculinity may not be entirely beneficial to people's health and well-being.
For example, studies have found that men with higher levels of traditional masculinity are less likely to delay blood pressure screening and cholesterol screening.
At the same time, in men aged 18 to 29 and 30 to 39 years, more restrictive emotions were associated with more depressive symptoms.
Image source: Friends
So, whether you're a boy or a girl, feel free to lie to your friends!
Cry together, scold together, laugh together... Annoyance is no big deal~
This article is reviewed by experts
bibliography
[1] Fowler J H, Christakis N A. Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network: longitudinal analysis over 20 years in the Framingham Heart
[2] Study BMJ 2008; 337 :a2338 doi:10.1136/bmj.a2338
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmsa066082
[3] Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Layton JB (2010) Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review. PLoS Med 7(7): e1000316. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316
[4] Yang, Y. C., Boen, C., Gerken, K., Li, T., Schorpp, K., & Harris, K. M. (2016). Social relationships and physiological determinants of longevity across the human life span. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(3), 578-583.
[5] Adler, N. E., & Newman, K. (2002). Socioeconomic disparities in health: pathways and policies. Health affairs, 21(2), 60-76.
[6] Taylor, S.E., Klein, L.C., Lewis, B.P., Gruenewald, T.L., Gurung, R.A., & Updegraff, J.A. (2000). Biobehavioral responses to stress in females: tend-and-befriend, not fight-or-flight. Psychological review, 107 3, 411-29 .
[7] Wright, P. H. (1982). Men's friendships, women's friendships and the alleged inferiority of the latter. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 8(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00287670
Planning and production
Author: Xiyu | Planner: Tagay | Editor-in-Charge: Feidi
Typesetting: Small snail | Cover image source: "My Genius Girlfriend"