HAVING FRIENDS IMPROVES YOUR HEALTH
While we are in school, making friends may be natural and easy. We are living in close proximity with people of similar age and interests. But as we mature, marry, have families and are involved with jobs which may move us from those original friends, many of us fail to renew old friendships or replace them with new ones.
If we are lucky, a few special friendships may last a lifetime. But often people may come into our lives for a time and then be part of our pasts. Even those "friends for a season" can provide us with the many benefits of friendship from companionship to a sense of community. In addition, friends can strengthen our health.
Numerous studies have found that having friends boosts our health. The stress relief and positive feelings friendship brings into our lives are real positives in health improvements. A federally supported study of 503 women with risks factors for heart disease were done for several years. The women wereassessed for their social relationships and tests for coronary artery disease. Tracking the deaths and causes of death within that group of women, the researchers found that those with larger social circles were less than half as likely to die within a few years
An interesting 10 year Australian study found that those with the strongest networks of friends lived the longest. Survival rates were barely affected by contact with relatives including children.
Two Harvard School of Public Health studies, one done with as part of the 50 plus year old Framingham Masschusetts Heart Study and one by the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, reported higher social activity was correlated to less risk for cardiovascular disease. The Framingham Heart Study found that marker levels for inflammation that is linked to cardiovascular disease were lowest in the most socially active men and highest in least active men, The Geffen School study found that socially active men produced more fibrogen, a desirable protein that aids blood in clotting.
If you have gotten out of the habit of making friends, have social anxiety or need to get motivated to make the effort it takes to make friends, hypnosis can help. Having friends will improve your life and help you to BE WELL.