Ya’ Gotta' Have Friends ….

"But you got to have friends

The feeling's oh so strong

You go to have friends

To make that day last long ..."

Heart disease is the leading cause of death of American women, killing more than a third of them. Exercise, diet, and medical treatments have their place, but one of the most powerful overlooked weapons for prolonging the lives of women by lowering stress, fighting illness and depression, speeding recovery, and influencing healthy choices is found in friendship.

“Most everything in life that we strive toward — career success, romantic ideals, happy children — end up being the very stressors in our lives that contribute to our depression and angst,” says Shasta Nelson, a life coach and CEO of GirlFriendCircles.com. “I’m finding that while many women feel too busy to foster meaningful friendships, it’s actually the area that can potentially make the biggest difference to our happiness and health by lowering our stress.”

Four Ways Friendships Improve Your Heart Health

• Friendships lower our stress. Women facing a hill estimated less of an incline when a friend was standing beside them. Researchers show we are less stressed when our best friend is present or when we were given a nasal of dose of oxytocin, an anti-stress hormone. Just the presence of a best friend, however, was better than oxytocin alone at reducing stress. 

• Friends encourage us to adopt healthier lifestyles.  Even the Mayo Clinic encourages friendships since people who love us encourage us to change or avoid unhealthy lifestyle habits, such as excessive drinking or lack of exercise. www.mayoclinic.com/health/friendships/MH00125

• Friendships encourage laughter. It’s not just a shoulder to cry on that helps, we also tend to laugh more when we’re with others with whom we feel safe. Studies so far have shown that laughter can help relieve pain, bring greater happiness, and even increase immunity.

• Friendships provide better rest. “Women with frequent, diverse social interactions were more likely to have healthy sleep time blood pressure profiles than their more isolated counterparts.” -- www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-source-healing/201001/just-in-friendships-prevent-heart-attacks-0.