Could friendship be the secret to longevity? According to research, having quality friendships may help you get healthy and live longer; a good friend can be as powerful as quitting smoking!
It’s quality, not quantity that counts – the friends you call when you need advice, the ones who know your deepest secrets. If you have best friends that you’d do just about anything for, you’re 50% more likely to live longer than those with weaker friendships, says a new analysis of 300,000 people and their friends.
In fact, not having friends is just as threatening to longevity as becoming obese!
The authors wrote:
“These findings indicate that the influence of social relationships on the risk of death are comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality such as smoking and alcohol consumption and exceed the influence of other risk factors such as physical inactivity and obesity. physicians, health professionals, educators, and the media should now acknowledge that social relationships influence the health outcomes of adults and should take social relationships as seriously as other risk factors that affect mortality.”
No matter how busy life gets, don’t let one of the healthiest, most important aspects of life slip away!
photo credit HonestlyWTF
