Good friends & relationships protect your health….Today's post:  Monday, 2-5-2018

Here are some quotes from an email I got today from Shaun & Karen Hadsall about the high importance of having friends and good relationships with them.

As usual, I’ll add some related things that can help you use and benefit from the information.

1.  Here are the quotes about having friends:

The good ones make us laugh. Help us create life-long memories. And pick us up when we're feeling down.

This complicated and stress-ridden world just seems much more enjoyable and fulfilling when we share our daily lives with close, supportive friends.

In fact, research shows that having at least a few, high-quality friends is a scientifically-proven requirement for you to feel consistent happiness in your life.1

And this is especially true as you get older...

As you age, additional research has also revealed that your healthy connections with friends is a stronger predictor of your mental and emotional wellbeing than even connections with your family.2

Plus, it's almost unbelievable how many physical health benefits you experience from your rock-solid friendships...

Did you know having strong friendships actually protects your health as much as someone who quits smoking or exercises regularly?3

And even crazier, that socially "isolated" people are more than twice as likely to die from heart disease as those with a solid social circle?”

Summary:  Good times spent with friends make life worth living.  And, it is one essential part of having a happy life.

The other two parts that create this health effect are the emotional security of having a few good friends as a proven stress protector and the actual support when you need it.

Shaun’s email has this quote:

“ "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up." - Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 “

And even if you get up on your own most of the time, knowing you have some friends who can do this relieves stress enormously.

On author found that NOT having this or thinking you don’t can result in an over 20 point increase in high blood pressure when stressed.

Small wonder with effects like that one, that having good relationships with friends and/or family members is so health protective.

The email Shaun sent also had some ideas for ways you can add a friend or two if like so many people these days, you haven’t many now.  Here are those quotes:

“Do you have someone, anyone, who you can trust to love you, care for you, and support you—even if they knew all your deepest, darkest secrets?

Experts believe you need between 3 and 5 close friends for optimal well-being.”

“….So if you think you do need more friends in your life today—just like myself—then you only need to do 1 simple thing....

Be proactive and take action:

Join a local group—such as a recreational sports league or church gathering...

Invite your neighbors over for dinner or out to eat...

Attend workout classes (I think my wife, … has made at least 20 friends doing this)...

Reconnect with an old friend with whom you've lost touch...

And lastly, if possible, mend your broken relationship with that one friend you regret losing...

Myself? I've made it a personal goal to establish closer friendships with 2-3 guys locally this year.”

These quotes were from a colleague of Shaun’s who had moved to a new area.

2.  You can get a good bit of these same benefits from acquaintances and family members who you don’t see often or even live in the same part of the country!

In her book, SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully by Jane McGonigal, she has what she calls PowerUps and ways to add positive experiences to your days to balance the normal bad news and stresses each day brings.

Her way of doing it is to email friends and acquaintances a quick thank you note for something they did that helped you or just made you smile or feel good.

While doing it she says to wish them well and feel warm and loving thoughts about them or feel you are also sending them.

Unbelievably, she has read research that shows that doing this boosts your serotonin and dopamine release in your brain enough to make you feel a LOT better and have more energy and make you healthier!

This needs no drugs or even supplements to do!  It’s safe and it works very, very well.

If you haven’t time to send emails or you do feel that way but do not have that person’s email, it even works to send them the message telepathically or pray for them while feeling these warm and supportive thoughts! 

This works for sure for you!  Incredibly, there are even some reports that people have had good things happen about that time too. 

I’ve found that this also works for friends and family who are far away and who you seldom see in person, by liking their posts on Facebook that have good news or wishing them the best when it’s bad.

Some of the younger people in my extended family are on Facebook as are my two brothers and my sister – and their children plus my daughter and son in law.

Some of their posts show their kids really looking happy or doing something well or they post something wise or thought provoking or just a pretty landscape or sky that’s near them.

I find that Liking these and adding some relevant and positive comments sometimes while I think well about them has this effect for me.

3.  All these things are easier if you feel good rather than irritable or depressed.  Sometimes this makes it possible to do them at all or to do them well enough to work.

Studies have found that eating wild caught fish high in omega 3 oils or even taking the omega 3 DHA or a purified omega 3 supplement causes you to be MUCH less irritable and even think better!

One study where they gave men in prison an omega 3 supplement found that the men felt so much less irritable the sections that got the supplement instead of a placebo had enough fewer fights, there were less injuries and the prison saved money on having to stop fewer bad fights and treat these injuries!

So if you do these things, you may be less irritable too! 

Why not try it?

Other studies have shown that drinking soft drinks and eating packaged foods causes the people who do so to become depressed.

And, many people who stop them both totally also stop being depressed or are much less so.

So following the lifestyle that enables you to stay healthy and is a low inflammation lifestyle that has you do both things, gives you a double benefit!

You get its direct protection AND it also enables you to add good feelings and support to your acquaintances, friends and family and get this extra benefit too!