Health & wellness

Hanging Out With Friends For Better Health

Hanging Out With Friends For Better Health

When was the last time you hung out with your buddies? If it’s been a while, maybe it’s time to stop creating excuses. Set aside your to-do list and head out with your friends. According to new research by Oxford University, hanging out with friends is truly nice for you!

The research, led by famous psychologist Robin Dunbar, discovered that hanging out with friends at least twice a week and “do stuff” will attain greater happiness in all parts of their life as well as enhance overall wellness and well-being.

The research listed “stuff” as anything from drinking beer (breaking out wine, women) and gossiping to talking about their competitors (a favorite subject) and just hanging out. In reality, any activity that makes females socialize, laugh, share and support each other can enhance their health and wellness.

Health benefits include quicker recovery times from illness, an increased immune system, a sense of greater goodwill, and even decreased anxiety.

Hanging Out With Friends For Better Health

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Laugh Your Way to Improve Health

In an interview with Scientific American, Robin Dunbar spoke about how even easy activities connected with relationships can have an effect on our joy and health. “Laughing together, walking together, dancing together, singing together, telling emotionally crazy tales, watching weepy movies- biochemically and immunologically, these activities buffer the body against the everyday kind of coughs and colds.

The research also discovered that females reap the greatest advantages when they laugh with each other. Including tossing out funny comments, joking, sharing funny stories, and speaking about things that make them laugh.

He also discovered that the size of your group of friends is also important. In a smaller group, ideally around four friends, funny circumstances will produce the necessary endorphins for happiness and well-being, while in bigger groups, the same advantages are less likely.

Hanging Out With Friends For Better Health

Despite the advantages offered by friend time, the research discovered that only two out of five females actually have the time to go out with friends once a week. It often gets even harder if they have children.

More than quantity, quality counts

It is still a worthwhile investment, despite the effort, it takes to hold onto existing friendships or to put yourself out there and make new friends. Of course, having a group of girls to hang with would be great, but quality counts far more than quantity.

You can count on a few really close friends to be there for you through thick or thin. And who will help you celebrate the good times and have your back in hard times can make all the difference in our lives in the world.

Having a few close friends can boost your feeling of belonging and purpose. Enhance your self-confidence and self-worth, help you deal with traumas such as divorce, work loss or a loved one’s death. Promote you to make smart and healthy life choices and help you break poor habits. And most females will acknowledge that having these relationships with friends makes them better wives, better moms, better sisters, better everything!

Hanging Out With Friends For Better Health

Finding Your Tribe

Of course, it is sometimes simpler to say than done to find new friends. The key is to open the door to new friendship possibilities by attempting something new like volunteering at your child’s school or an organization that you’re enthusiastic about. Joining a club, taking a class, joining a gym (getting healthy and meeting new friends) or getting engaged in your church.

If in the past you enjoyed talking to someone, don’t be shy. Extend a coffee or lunch invitation. Invite (even if you’ve lost touch) a group of ladies over or organize a mom’s night out.

With everyone you meet, you may not become lifelong friends. Also, you may not find that “perfect” friend. But remember, friends come in all shapes and sizes and not all friends are made equal. One friend may be your traveling partner, another may be your confidant, and another may be the one you’ll have dinner with when you need a nice laugh.

So, go on! Give a call to your buddy! Make plans for coffee meetings, go out to lunch at your favorite café, or grab beverages and appetizers at the city’s new restaurant. Just venture out, laugh and go “do stuff.” That’s why you’re going to be happier and healthier! Hanging out with friends positively impacts our health. 

Also Read: Health & Fitness Tips For Busy Lifestyle

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