The 10 benefits of having friends, according to science.

The psychological and evolutionary advantages of having special people to share life with.

Genuine friendship is one of the most wonderful things that can happen to us in this life.. Having someone loyal to confide in and have fun with, being able to count on their support through life's ups and downs and setbacks, or being able to confess our worries to them is worth its weight in gold.

As the popular saying goes: "He who has a friend has a treasure".

There are many types of friends

Obviously there are many types of friends. Some are simply great fun companions; others, on the other hand, are everything in our lives, almost like our family. In the course of our lives we may meet many people and make good friends, but there are few true friends.

As the years go by, we may lose contact with some of them, although there are always those good friends, the ones from childhood, the ones that when we meet them again after a while it seems as if we had not been separated for a moment.

• If you want to know more about the different kinds of friends, you can visit our article, "The 12 types of friends: what are yours like?"

Benefits of having friends

But regardless of the type of friend we have, all of them bring us benefits: learning, unique experiences, fun and unforgettable moments, advice, etc.…

According to some studies, 98% of people have between 1 and 9 good close friends. Other research indicates that friendship is not just fun, but is necessary for our development, our emotional health and our mental and physical well-being.

In the following lines we will delve into these benefits:

1. They help you live longer

People with an active social life and good interpersonal relationships live longer, according to a 2010 meta-analysis.as affirmed by a meta-analysis conducted in 2010. For the study, 148 research studies were examined that sought to find some kind of relationship between friendship, social skills and mortality.

The subjects of the various studies totaled more than 300,000 participants. According to the results, the stronger the ties in social relationships, the later the subjects died. Researchers claim that the relationship may be related to the importance of friendship in overcoming stressful life situations, and this positive impact would significantly affect both mental and physical health.

2. They reduce stress

There are many studies that affirm that friendship reduces stress.. In fact, organizational psychologists have long been studying the relationship between good relationships with co-workers and burnout or chronic stress.

It seems that healthy relationships with co-workers act as a buffer against this phenomenon, reducing its symptoms and participating in its prevention.

3. A healthier life

A study carried out by Yang and his collaborators, after comparing the state of health of people with healthy interpersonal relationships and those who were isolated, found that the former were healthier overall: good Blood pressure, lower body mass index, etc.etc. His findings were published in the Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences..

4. More fun

Friends provide us with good times and fun situations.. In fact, we associate friendship with fun times and with sharing activities that we find pleasant and enjoyable. If we have a friend who spends the day telling jokes, our health and well-being are significantly improved.

• Do you want to know why this happens? To find out just read our post: "The physical and psychological benefits of laughter".

5. They relieve pain

Friends not only relieve emotional pain when we are sad, but also listen to us and lend us a hand. and listen to us and lend us their unconditional support, but they can also help us reduce physical pain. This is what a research published by the Psychosomatic Medicinewhich states that the perception of pain is reduced when we are physically next to a person we consider close.

6. They improve mental acuity

Friends also affect our brain. According to a study conducted in 2012, people with dementia get worse when they are not in contact with other people and feel lonely. The subjects of the study were more than 2000 Dutch people aged over 65, analyzed for 3 years.

After analysis of the results, the researchers stated that: "it has more to do with the feeling of being alone than with actually being alone". Therefore, it is not simply contact with other people that is productive in this sense, but qualitatively better and closer contact improves brain functioning.

7. Improves cardiovascular health

Like physical exercise, friendship has a positive effect on our heart.. This is the conclusion of a study by Duke University in the United States. To carry out their study, the researchers analyzed 1,000 subjects with cardiovascular diseases.

The results indicated that, after five years, half of the participants who had died did not have a close friend. In contrast, 85% of the survivors had a strong friendship with someone.

8. Promotes personal growth or development

Friendships are present in all stages of our lives and favor our development.and favors our development. For example, friendship is necessary for development in adolescence, because it can help in the process of self-discovery of identity. In addition, through friends we can acquire values, knowledge and they can serve as models for learning different behaviors.

9. Greater emotional balance

Human beings are social beings and, therefore, we need contact with other people.. The deprivation of friendship has a negative impact on our mental balance. Friends boost our self-esteem and make us feel good in bad times. It is hard to imagine a happy person without friends.

10. They help avoid obesity

Friends help prevent obesity. At least this is the conclusion of a study published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine. The researchers explain that, especially in childhood: "socialization has a food substitution effect", which makes us eat less when we are entertained. Undoubtedly, some curious results.