5 Ways That Friendship Affects Well-Being
Tags: Health, Friendship, Friends, Social, Wellbeing

Most people believe that having close friends are important, but have you ever wondered about why friendships are so beneficial to our well-being? Here are 5 reasons for why friendships have an impact on our mental and physical health.

1. Stress Management and Emotional Health

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According to Calin Flora, author of Friendfluence, friends help us identify and prioritize what’s important to us. Whether we’re choosing an outfit or considering a career change, friends can help us think through the details, which is critical for reducing stress while increasing our happiness. Remember that in healthy friendships, support should go both ways. It’s important to reciprocate by offering support to our friends as well through good and hard times.

2. Health Behaviors and Civic Engagement

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Yale Sociologist Nicholas Christakis has shown that friends can affect how we eat, and whether and how often we exercise and engage in activities like smoking and drinking. His research has also found that friends can encourage us to be more pro-social and civic-minded. This means that our friends can not only make us healthier and happier, they can actually make us better people, by encouraging us to be good neighbors and citizens.

On the other hand, this also means that our friends can also encourage bad habits and behaviors, so we should also be mindful of the types of friends we make and what their values are.

3. Longer and Healthier Lives

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In her book, Friendship, author and science writer Lydia Denworth shares the latest research on the evolutionary origins of friendship and how our relationships have increased the chances of our survival as a species. She also points to research that shows how modern-day friendships continue to affect our lifespans, often in underappreciated ways. One of her main points is that our friendships can have a greater impact on our health and happiness than wealth.

4. Cognition and Creativity

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Numerous studies have shown the positive benefits of friendships on our brains, including a lower risk of dementia and increased ability to think creatively. This research shows how friends are important for getting jobs, succeeding in our careers, and maintaining our cognitive health as we age.

5. Reducing Feelings of Loneliness

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Lastly, friends can reduce feelings of loneliness. I know this fact may seem obvious, but this is especially important right now because of the pandemic. There are approximately 35.7 million Americans who live alone and have to take additional steps to connect with others. Additionally, a survey from October found that nearly 1 in 5 adults reported that their mental health was worse than the same time last year and that 7 out of 10 young adults reported feeling lonely. Studies have shown that the need for social interaction is akin to our need to eat, so it’s worth emphasizing just how important it is foster and cherish our friendships right now.