How To Be a Good Friend - The Health Benefits of Friendship and a Strong Support Network

The emotional health benefits of friendship include a longer, happier life. Being a good friend makes your life more fun, interesting, and easy to handle! When you have even just one close or best friend, your attitude and ability to deal with stress and problems is increased.

Surprisingly, even spending time with an intimate partner doesn't provide the same physical and emotional health benefits as friendship. Good friends offer a different kind of support than lovers, siblings, parents, or children do. Good friends provide a different level of understanding and communication -- and this positively affects your health, wellness, and attitude. Strong feelings of connectedness is another emotional health benefit of friendship.

 The Emotional Health Benefits of Friendship

 

Psychological research shows that stressed-out hamsters with skin wounds who were paired with other hamsters healed faster than those left alone to heal. The hamsters with friends also produced less of the stress hormone cortisol, which has negative effects on mood and immunity. You may not be a hamster, but the effects are transferable to human friends. If you're depressed, recuperating from an illness, or stressed you'll heal and deal faster with friends. This is a huge health benefit of friendship.

Researchers haven’t figured out exactly how, but friends boost your immune system. Good friends help you relax, take a deep breath, and remember what really matters – and why. The connection and relationship you feel when you’re with your friends boost your feelings of hope, faith, and belief that things will be Okay. Friends provide comfort and companionship, laughter and honesty. A strong support network can also keep you motivated and energized! This is why it's important to know how to be a good friend.

A strong support network isn't just about emotions and feelings. A major emotional health benefit of friendship is moral support. Practically speaking, when a friend accompanies you to a doctor’s appointment or medical procedure, you’re more likely to experience lower blood pressure and a slower heart rate. You’ll heal faster and live longer. Without social ties or friends to keep you going, you’re more likely to experience negative emotions, more illnesses, and even earlier death than normal.

Characteristics of a Good Friend

• Accepts you as you are: A good friend is someone who does not try to be somebody that he is not and accepts you as you are. They are also patient with you when you make mistakes and forgive you when you hurt them.
  

• Honest: A good friend would be honest and loyal with you. He does not break the promises that he made to you. He makes you feel safe and secure with him. He is your true critic. You will find many who falsely appreciate you, but a good friend will tell you the truth even if it's somenting you don't want to hear. He will point out your mistakes in private not in fornt of others and also help you overcome them.

• Give you Space: A good friend respects your privacy. He understands that you have family, other friends and colleagues who are part of your life too and do not cling to you always. He builds trust and confidence which makesyou comfortable enough to share your good and bad times with him.

• Always in touch: Good friends don’t wait for you to call you. He always makes an effort to keep in touch with you even if it is through a quick phone call or an email. He knows what's going on in your life and is interested about it. A good friend also does not avoid even if they are busy and do not ignore your phone call or mails. A good friend makes it clear that they care about you. 

• Happy for you: A good friend never gets jealous on your success but would be happy for you. He celebrates your success and his success with you. When you are down and needs support he would be there to support and care about you. An ideal friend has a sensitive side which would make themunderstand others feelings. They may not be able to read your mind, but chances are they can usually tell when you're happy, sad, excited, shocked or upset. A good friend will likely know how to lift your spirits and make your day.

• A friend is someone who accepts you as you are.

• A friend is someone who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.
• In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends.
• A fiend is someone who cheers you up when you are feeling down.
• True friends don not drift apart even after many years of separation.
• Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget.

  
  
  

  Now, Guys I'd like to know if you really have a great (or more than one) friend? How does he/she care your friendship?

  
  

  
  

  I hope that you really enjoyed this topic, and I also hope that you have great friends like I have.

  
  

  
  

  I love you all: In alphabetical order
  
  

  • Alexandre
  • Bruna
  • Carol
  • Fernanda
  • Lucyany
  • Marla
  • My family
  • Nicolly
  • Rômulo ( my husband hehehe)

  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
                                                                        By Juliana de Albuquerque