People are social beings. At least I know I am. I love spending my evenings with pals, riding bikes, having a drink, or taking a hike. But without friends, we start to find ourselves alienated from our communities. It’s not only bad for our mental health, but it’s bad for our physical health as well.
According to a Harvard Study of women, not having friends can be as bad for you as smoking.
“The subjective experience of social distance reaches down into some of our most basic internal processes–the activity of our genes,” writes the study’s authors.
The study concluded that “the genes of chronically lonely people showed over-expression in immune system activation (such as inflammation) but under-expression in antiviral responses and antibody production,” which help impacts our overall health.
So now science even backs up the need to have at least a few friends. It’s not only great for our mental health but our physical health as well. Try meeting some new people!
Yvonne L. Michael et al., “Health Behaviors, Social Networks and Healthy Aging: Cross-Sectional Evidence from the Nurses’ Health Study,” Quality of Life Research 8 (1999): 711-722.
Getting together with friends to complain about the state of things, about events in your…
This article contains affiliate links.It's always important to prepare, schedule, and plan how and when…
For many, the idea of finding their soulmate, while idealistic and lovely, seems too far-fetched…
This article contains affiliate links.We all know many famous haunted houses from stories and movies.…
This article contains affiliate links.When gazing up at the impossibly large depths of space, it's…
This article may contain affiliate links.Attraction plays a large part in a romantic relationship. It's…