Elderly people who actively keep in touch with friends live much longer than those who have lost all friends. Why is this happening? Scientists suspect that good friends distract a person from bad habits. After all, according to statistics, single people are the most malicious smokers, and from alcohol-related illnesses, they die almost five times more often than those who can boast of having friends.
In addition, friendship helps to prevent depression and increase self-esteem, which is also important for maintaining health in old age.
To be friends or not with colleagues at work?
Means against cancer
A group of scientists from the United States found that friendship can help to defeat cancer. The researchers observed women with malignant tumors of the ovaries. In patients who received more support from friends and acquaintances, the level of protein associated with an aggressive form of cancer was significantly lower than those who tried to cope with the disease without any support. A similar study was conducted by scientists on women with breast cancer. Those of them who actively communicated with friends, on average, lived twice as long as those who did not.
The medicine for stress
Scientists from the United States conducted a curious experiment. In the course of it, there were specially created various stressful situations. The participants next to whom their friend was, had blood pressure lower than those who had to experience stress alone. According to the experiment, the friend did not have to say anything. It turned out that to reduce the pressure it was enough just a simple presence of a good friend.
Protection for the heart
The presence of friends has a beneficial effect on the heart rate. This conclusion was made by scientists from Canada. They conducted a study among foreign students who came to study in Montreal. Experts for five months regularly assessed the heart rate of the volunteers. It turned out that only those volunteers who managed to find friends immediately after moving to a new place could boast of the normal work of the heart. The rest were exposed to various heart rate failures. In the future, such violations can lead to serious diseases.
Nutrition for immunity
People who maintain good relations with others have stronger immunity and less often suffer from cold illnesses compared to those who like to spend time alone. And the more friends a person has, the better his immunity!
The way to keep warm
Friends can act as live heaters. Scientists from the Netherlands conducted an experiment: they placed people who were in different relationship, at a distance from each other. It turned out that if within a radius of half a meter from the subject there were people who evoked pleasant emotions in him, the participant of the experiment felt that the air temperature was two degrees Celsius higher than it actually was. The lack of sympathy for the neighbor, on the contrary, caused a feeling of cold. This discovery clearly shows why people use the expressions "warm friendship" and "cool relations".