Do you have good friends?

As we go through life, we can sometimes lose touch with great friends.  We may move home, move job, or dedicate time to our spouse and family.

Friendships are a key part of life.  Our social life can bring a lot of happiness and reduce stress.  But also friends can be there in times of need, for support and advice.

There is scientific evidence that having solid friendships is good for your health and wellbeing.  Social isolation is unhealthy.

A review published in 2010 looked at 148 studies involving more than 208,000 participants.  The results showed that people with strong social relationships increased their odds of survival over a certain time period by 50 percent which is the same as quitting smoking and nearly twice as beneficial as physical activity.

“I think we make a compelling case that social relationships should also be taken quite seriously in terms of reducing risk of mortality,” said study researcher Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a psychologist at Brigham Young University in Utah.

“As we encounter potentially stressful events in our lives, if we know that we’ve got people we can count on or that we can turn to, we may be less likely to even perceive it as stressful, because we know we can handle it,” Holt-Lunstad said. “But also, let’s say we’re already in the throes of some kind of stressful event, our relationships can also help us cope with it and buffer that reaction to the stress.”

And today in Global Women we have written about how friendships can increase your chance of survival after breast cancer.

This is one of the reasons behind The Purple Tent.  We want to form a network of women who can celebrate life and be there for each other.

Have you kept in contact with your friends?  It is not too late if  you have not.  Make this the year that you meet up.