(FOX NEWS) – There’s no doubt friendship has many benefits – from having a shoulder to cry on to getting a ride to the supermarket.
But researchers say your friends can actually make you healthier.
A study done at the University of Oxford found young adults who had a lot of friends were able to tolerate pain better, because they had higher levels of endorphins, the body’s feel-good chemicals.
The scientists say feeling isolated puts a person on high alert – and that can make sleep more difficult, raise blood pressure and levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and gradually ramp up inflammation.
And they say unlike relatives, friends choose to be in our lives.
That validation alone is good for our health.
