Why Do We Need Friends? Benefits of Healthy Friendship

Most of us today have turned so busy with offices, commutation, family, household chores, daily activities that we have started neglecting one of the most important aspects of our lives; i.e. friendship. And by friends, we do not mean the listed profile names on the Facebook page or Whatsapp chat names rather our true friends with whom we physically talk and meet at least once in a month.  

In fact staying in touch with an actual friend is so important that scientific community believes that friendship can extend life expectancy and lower chances of heart disease. In 2016, researchers found evidence about the release of oxytocin in the primate brain during social interactions.

Relationship Counsellor Shivani Misri Sadhoo today shares what all you are missing in your life if you are not putting efforts to stay close with your friends.

Friendship makes us feel happy

Friendship ignites the part of the brain that makes us feel good, which makes us want to keep hanging out with our friends. Dr Lauren Brent professor at the University of Exeter, says when we interact with friends, it makes us feels good, relieves stress, releases dopamine and motivates us.

Friends improve our social skills

This point is utmost important for kids as well as for old age people. At a small age, friends help a child develop their social skills. By playing with same age kids, children learn to communicate their thoughts, leadership skills, teamwork and other social skills. Similarly, at every phase of life, our friends help us to know how to forgive, laugh, and make conversations easy.

The basic components of any relationship, from our marriage to our co-workers, are all founded on friendship. We learn how to interact with people because of our friends, even the ones who share a different perspective than us.

Friends Improve the Quality of Our Lives

Friends can change our value system so we that learn to inject more meaning into our lives. By spending time with friends, we fill up our lives with great conversations, heartfelt caring and support, and laugh our hearts out. When we face hardships, friends are there to put things in perspective and help us in our difficult moment. When we succeed, they’re smiling at our hard work and achievements. With down-to-earth, positive people in our life, we would be more mindful of gratitude and do meaningful things for others. We don’t just live when we have healthy friendships, we thrive.