The health benefits of friendship
Since I posted yesterday about the importance of strong relationships for a long life span, I thought this post from Fix.com would tie in nicely!
They have a pretty long article to go with the photos and charts, so I’ll just share the parts that stood out to me:
A gathering of 148 research studies found that people with strong friendships had better survival rates than those with weak relationships–50% better!
There are two main theories about why friendships help: 1. You have help and support with stressful situations and 2. when you are part of a crowd, you might be more likely to follow the group in taking care of yourself
People with quality friendships have better health–specifically heart health, while those with little support are more likely to have health problems.
The article points out that quality matters. Having a bunch of superficial fake friends is not as helpful as having true, close friends.
I’ll let the photos show you the rest!
Source: Fix.com