Time with good friends is good for your health in so many ways
By Paul Bolger. Chartered Physiotherapist at Nano Physiotherapy, Kilkenny (www.nanophysio.ie).
Last week we explored the mind-body connection by looking at the effects of a hangover. This week let’s look at the mind-body connection from another angle. Time with good friends is great for health, and it shows that there is no true separation between mind and body.
Everything Benefits
Much like how we benefit from exercise, quality sleep and good food, there is hardly a cell in the body that does not benefit from time with a close friend. From the immune system to the digestive system, from the brain to the skin, benefits abound!
Stress Benefits
One benefit that we can all appreciate is the stress-reducing effects of social connection. It is one of our greatest stress relievers, according to Professor Robert Sapolsky in his fascinating book on stress, ‘Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers’. Time with a good friend balances out levels of the stress hormone cortisol. If you’ve just had a stressful event, being with or talking to a close friend will literally lower your heart rate and blood pressure.
Brain Chemical Effects
Brain chemicals like oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin get a boost. Amongst other things, oxytocin helps us to feel more connected with others. Dopamine boosts motivation and serotonin helps to regulate mood, leaving us more energised, contented and calm.
Other neurotransmitters (i.e. brain chemicals) that rise are endorphins. These amazing chemicals have pain-reducing effects – lowering physical and emotional pain. In fact, they work on the same parts of the brain that pain-relieving opioid drugs do (like morphine and codeine).
Immune System Boosting
We get an immune boost from time with a good friend. Social connectedness is linked to a better antibody response – meaning that we are more efficient at becoming immune to infections that we may encounter. As well as that, inflammation levels in the body balance out – which have wide-ranging health benefits from a healthier heart and blood vessels to improved digestion and pain levels.
What People Help?
The type of person that we tend to get these positive health benefits from being around is the type of person who makes you feel ‘attuned’. This means that you feel seen and understood in a non-judgemental way. Simply put, you can be yourself, completely and utterly. We tend to walk away from time with such a person feeling better, lighter, more at ease.
Mind affects the body, body affects the mind
So, simply being in the presence of a person who you get on with has all these amazing physical effects on your body (and many more not mentioned here)! You can measure these changes, and you do not need to take a drug or perform an exercise to benefit from them.
The changes we see to the stress system, brain chemicals and immune system (as well as other areas not mentioned here) will all impact on our psychology – how we feel, what we think and what we do. Mind affects body, which affects mind, which affects body, in a continuous cycle with no true boundary separating body and mind.
Your Prescription
Here’s a useful prescription – try to arrange regular time, either 1-on-1 or in a group, with at least one of these people every week, your body and mind will thank you!
Don’t have that person around? Have a look into what groups and activities are going on in your community and try something out, or reach out for help from a friend, family member or your GP.
