Develop Friendships

Friends and friendship can:

• Help you better cope with stress
• Decrease your risk of disease
• Increase your chance of living longer by 50 percent
• Help you fight a cold
• Ease body aches and pains
• Improve your coping skills
• Increase your energy – yep, that’s right!
• Make you laugh
• Boost your happiness
• Let you feel connected, appreciated, and loved
• Influence your eating and exercise habits (Which friend would help you improve your eating vs. encourage you to order another round of nachos? Which friend would take a walk/go to a Zumba class with you?)

Studies find that being face to face with friends boosts the positive effects even more. Not having close friends can be as detrimental as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Go ahead…celebrate your friends and make some new ones!