{"id":337,"date":"2009-04-21T15:50:58","date_gmt":"2009-04-21T15:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/is-friendship-good-for-your-health.html"},"modified":"2009-04-21T15:50:58","modified_gmt":"2009-04-21T15:50:58","slug":"is-friendship-good-for-your-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/is-friendship-good-for-your-health.html","title":{"rendered":"Is Friendship Good for Your Health?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone who has a best friend knows that we just feel better, in ways both tangible and intangible, when we’re around people who we love and who love us.  Well, it turns out that  researchers are starting to think that the “feel better” that we experience when we’re hanging with friends is a genuine health phenomenon.  <\/p>\n

In other words, friendship is good for your health.<\/p>\n

Check out Tara Parker-Pope’s column<\/a> in the New York Times for a survey of the research that shows the health benefits of friendship (which include fewer colds, possibly because those with strong friendships have lower stress levels).  For example:<\/p>\n

\n

Last year, researchers studied 34 students<\/a> at the University of Virginia<\/a>,
\ntaking them to the base of a steep hill and fitting them with a
\nweighted backpack. They were then asked to estimate the steepness of
\nthe hill. Some participants stood next to friends during the exercise,
\nwhile others were alone. <\/p>\n

The students who stood with friends
\ngave lower estimates of the steepness of the hill. And the longer the
\nfriends had known each other, the less steep the hill appeared.<\/p>\n

“People with stronger friendship networks feel like there is someone
\nthey can turn to,” said Karen A. Roberto, director of the center for
\ngerontology at Virginia Tech<\/a>. “Friendship is an undervalued resource. The consistent message of these studies is that friends make your life better.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Do you think time with friends makes you a healthier person – physically as well as emotionally?<\/b>  Meanwhile, check out some other friendship goodies here on Fresh Living.<\/p>\n

Friends: A Reason, a Season, or a Lifetime?
<\/a>
How to Break Up with a Friend<\/a><\/p>\n

Quotes that Celebrate Friendship<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone who has a best friend knows that we just feel better, in ways both tangible and intangible, when we’re around people who we love and who love us.  Well, it turns out that  researchers are starting to think that the “feel better” that we experience when we’re hanging with friends is a genuine health…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,229],"tags":[291,290,432],"class_list":["post-337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-holly-lebowitz-rossi","category-relationships","tag-friends","tag-friendship","tag-new-york-times"],"yoast_head":"\nIs Friendship Good for Your Health? - Fresh Living<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/is-friendship-good-for-your-health.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Friendship Good for Your Health? - Fresh Living\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anyone who has a best friend knows that we just feel better, in ways both tangible and intangible, when we’re around people who we love and who love us.  Well, it turns out that  researchers are starting to think that the “feel better” that we experience when we’re hanging with friends is a genuine health…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/is-friendship-good-for-your-health.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fresh Living\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-04-21T15:50:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"hrossi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is Friendship Good for Your Health? - Fresh Living","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/is-friendship-good-for-your-health.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is Friendship Good for Your Health? 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A graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Divinity School, she has more than a decade of experience writing about religion and spirituality for Newsweek, The Washington Post, Spa Finder, Sojourners, Search, and many other publications. Her commentaries have also been heard on NPR\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All Things Considered.\" When not at her desk, you can find her baking, in her garden, or rockin' out in water aerobics class. She lives in Arlington, Mass. Visit http:\/\/www.hollyrossi.com for more.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/author\/hrossi"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}