Friendships are some of the most rewarding, fulfilling, and life-changing relationships that we can enjoy as humans. They can offer us a sense of belonging that few other types of relationships can provide, push us to take on new challenges, and lift us up when we’re feeling down.
But a lot of people don’t understand that there are also real, tangible, medical health benefits to friendship too.
In this post, we’re going to explore just a few of the massive health benefits gained from cultivating positive, loving friendships in your life.
This is as important for men as it is for women. Here’s why.
1. You’ll Live A Longer, Healthier Life
Many studies boast the massive health benefits that come from positive social connections.
People with satisfying friend, family, and community connections tend to be happier, live longer, and suffer from fewer health problems.
2. You’ll Make Better Decisions
Friends can help you to make better decisions in life by offering genuine support, advice, guidance, and an outside perspective that’s still sympathetic to your feelings and life situations.
This type of guidance is hard to come by in the world. Since friends know us so intimately, they may be best-equipped to help us make the best decisions for the specific situations we’re going through.
And that provides a lot of value.
3. You’ll Enjoy An Increased Sense Of Purpose And Belonging
Having close friendships can make you feel better during bad times, and can help your life to be filled with more meaning, purpose, and belonging.
This probably stems from the human need for a tribe.
Humans have always tended to be tribal creatures. That’s how we survived for millenia. And so, it’s little wonder that we thrive better when we’re properly socialized in a group with other humans who have a vested interest in seeing us succeed.
4. You’ll Improve Your Sense Of Self-Confidence And Self-Worth
Friends can be a major source of confidence.
They can help us to see the best within ourselves, and can also help us to understand our own true value in the world.
Encouragement is important in life. And friends are often in the best position to help us increase our self-confidence and self-worth.
5. A Larger Social Circle Makes You Happier And Boosts Mental Health
While quality generally beats quantity when it comes to friends, it’s also true that a large circle of friends may be the key to remaining happy and healthy as you age into midlife.
For example, one study showed that having fewer than 5 friends by the age of 45 was a significant predictor of poorer psychological well-being at the age of 50.
It truly does pay off to make more friends. It’s almost as important as eating right, sleeping well, and exercising!
In Conclusion
Hopefully, this post has helped you to understand how crucial it is that you cultivate positive friendships in your life.
We can all enjoy the benefits of a broader social circle and quality friendships.
But the key is to make an effort.
So get out there and start proactively making friends.
It truly matters, for a lot of reasons.
