10 Scientific Reasons That’ll Make You Value Your Friends Even More

When you already thought you had enough reasons to value your best friend, or best friend, science comes along and gives extra reasons to cultivate that friendship even more. Research shows that socializing with loved ones has health benefits, reduces stress and reinforces positive thoughts.

Entering this wave of affection, the awesome.club separated 10 scientific reasons that will make you want to spend more time with your special friends.

Do you usually have a schedule full of appointments with friends? So consider yourself a lucky and healthy person. One study proved that lack of social interactions is as harmful to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day🇧🇷

Social isolation is a great enemy of well-being and can have serious consequences as we age, causing cognitive decline and increasing the chances of developing depression.

Sincerity is everything, and we will prove it! According to science, close friends who give you brutally honest assessments are the ones who care most about your happiness.

Sincerity can hurt, but people who are even too real provoke negative feelings in their friends, thinking that it will benefit them in the future. That is, some people may sometimes try to induce negative emotions in others for altruistic reasons, not simply for their own pleasure or benefit.

Here’s a reason you never let go of your best friend or your best friend again: science says that this partnership serves as a protection during negative experiences🇧🇷

One study asked 103 participants to write reports of how they felt and take saliva tests multiple times over the course of 4 days. The result showed that people who had a friend by their side were more positive about the experience of those who were alone. Not having partners at the time of testing resulted in the significant increase in the stress hormone (cortisol) and a decrease in self-esteem🇧🇷

Winning a real friend is not an overnight task. Achieving true and intimate emotional bonds takes time…but how much time exactly?

According to science, people who spend 50 hours together are knownalready good friends appear after 140 hours and the best friends are the ones that exceed 300 hours of moments together.

Science has an explanation for very similarly minded best friends. A survey showed that the friends have similar brain behavior🇧🇷 Want to know how researchers discovered this? Simply showing video clips.

Friends watched the videos and their brains responded similarly. The “friends of friends” were presented with the same stimuli, but the brain response was quite different.

Let’s face it, not every friend is going to be on your side no matter what, right?

According to science, humans have 150 relationships on average. Within this number, there are 4 layers of friendships, which are funneling according to emotional closeness. The average number of friends found in each tier was 5, 15, 50 and 150. In other words, the research says that each person has only 5 people to call “best friends”.

Sharing emotional experiences with friends directly contributes to well-being by regulating emotions. A study showed that having friends makes people have a more positive outlook on life.

For example: going to the movies alone, or with a partner, makes a difference. Although the film, in itself, already causes a certain amount of excitement, the experience of going to the movies with friends makes people already have a previous feeling that that moment will be happy. Ie, just the idea of ​​being able to share experiences with close people is already positive.

We can’t be sure that friendships will last forever, but if they go beyond 7 years, it’s already too good. According to science, the trend is for people to renew the cycle of friendships every 7 years and the social context where the friends are inserted makes all the difference.

People “eliminate” friends much more because of opportunities than social preferences.🇧🇷 Friendships end with the passage of time, as they no longer share the “same environment” of coexistence, such as at school, college or work.

So, cherish that friend who has been by your side for more than 7 years and who always finds a good excuse to see you.

We already know that having friends is great for our health, but do friendships also change the way we tolerate pain?

Research done at the University of Oxford has proven that having friends is a great source of endorphin (the body’s natural pain reliever) and that’s why people with more friends have a better tolerance for pain.

Friends are the family we choose, right? Science proves that having a positive relationship with family and friends brings happiness and health benefits. However, 2 experiments done at Michigan State University show that, in older people, friendships had more positive effects on well-being than family. This is a sign that friends become more important as we age.

And you, do you have a friend for life? So how about showing how much you value this friendship? Leave a tribute in the comments.