As you can see, having strong friendships is not only good for your mental well-being, but they’re also important for your physical health as well. Remember, friends can help your immune system and brain function just as much as they do your happiness! And by being a good friend and showing appreciation to the people around you, you can make sure that the people you love also live long and healthy lives!

A support network of healthy, stable, and reliable friendships improves mental health and increases longevity. Yet, more and more, our society de-emphasizes the importance of friendships, leading more people to become less and less connected. In fact, as many as 8% of adults in the United States say they have no friends. That means you almost certainly know someone in your life who doesn’t have any good friendship dynamics in their lives!

But finding good friends is easier said than done, especially when people have other obligations in their lives. Here’s how this article will approach the subject:

Why We Need Friendship Dynamics in Our Lives

Having a group of friends contributes to a healthy flow of life in more than one way. While many people recognize that having close friends brings about pleasant feelings, we’re also biologically wired to have friendships with people.

Think of it this way: for most of history, humans have had to group together to survive. People lived in many different formats, from nomadic tribes to permanent cities. Still, having relationships with others was key because if someone failed to win the favor of others in the group, they might be more prone to getting kicked out. Being separated from the group almost certainly meant death, given that the person would lack access to food and be exposed to wild animals and weather elements.

As such, our brains evolved to need connection. From the moment we’re born, we seek out connection with our caretakers. Research demonstrates that babies who experience skin-to-skin with an adult soon after leaving the womb are calmer and more regulated after birth.

Once we start aging, our need to connect doesn’t go away, even as we become more self-sufficient. In fact, some experts believe that having friendships may be as essential to our well-being as eating and drinking.

Additionally, having friends decreases stress and helps people weather more difficult life circumstances. Take, for instance, a person who goes through a death in the family, as all of us inevitably experience. Someone who has friends will be able to go to their network for support and comfort. A person who hasn’t fostered such friendship dynamics may feel even more alienated and lonely.

Benefits of Important Friendship Dynamics

Friends Lower Our Stress

When something bad happens to you, it’s a common reaction to reach for the phone to call up a friend. Science says there’s a reason why we do that. During times of stress, having supportive friendships have been shown to lower our blood pressure. This is likely because friends provide comfort and offer a safe space where we can full vulnerable. Having someone we can rely on for emotional support is a great stress reducer and an important factor for longevity.

While friends can help with some issues, always seek professional help if problems are severe or get worse over time.

Friends Create a Sense of Purpose

A good friendship has the ability to add depth and purpose to our lives. When you meet or talk with friends, you’re creating long-lasting memories based on those actions and conversations. And it’s those memories that you’ll carry with you for the rest of your life. Therefore, having strong friendships allows you to experience the world in a way that you might not be able to do on your own.

Friends Increase Our Confidence

The friends we choose can play a huge role in how we view ourselves as people. Science has shown there’s a direct correlation between friendship levels and self-esteem. That’s because friends can provide encouragement, support, and reassurance in times of need. You’d be surprised at how a few words of praise from a friend can make a huge impact in your day-to-day life!

Friends Help Us Live Longer

In addition to having mental health benefits, friendship has a myriad of physical benefits as well. Loneliness has been shown to lead to premature death from heart problems or a wide range of chronic issues. They can also prevent depression and anxiety, which can greatly impact our physical health.

However, you still need to make sure you’re seeing your doctor regularly! Thankfully, there are virtual services that allow you to speak with a healthcare professional right from the comfort of your home.

What Happens When We Don’t Make Friends?

Lacking social connection doesn’t just mean you won’t have friends to hang out with after work. In fact, people who don’t have stable friendship dynamics in their lives are at an increased risk for conditions such as heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. They also experience srokes at an increased rate.

But even if their physical health doesn’t suffer, their emotional health likely will. Among elderly populations, feeling lonely is one of the main causes of depression and suicide. That’s why so many facilities for the elderly focus on fostering social connection. But making friends before you get to this stage in life will help you feel happier for longer.

What Keeps Us from Having These Relationships?

Having friendships is actually on a steep decline. Many factors play into this, and not every single one we talk about in this section will apply to every person.

Social anxiety serves as the most common reason people avoid making friends. This term gets thrown around on the internet a lot, so let’s get clear on what it is. Someone with social anxiety actually has a diagnosable mental health condition. But if you have it, don’t worry! The prognosis can be extremely favorable, and it’s relatively common and easy for therapists to treat.

Some of the symptoms of social anxiety include experiencing a heightened state of stress when encountering or imagining a social situation. This stress usually comes from a set of fears, such as being disliked, rejected, or embarrassed by certain actions. People with social anxiety initially may run from these fears and self-isolate. However, their avoidance of people becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; usually, the more they isolate, the more they struggle to interact with people.

COVID-19 definitely both triggered and exacerbated social anxiety in people. After all, the pandemic forced most people to stay at home and away from others. Those who already had social anxiety then had no way to practice getting comfortable making new friends. Plus, therapists began to notice a whole new generation of children who became socially anxious because they couldn’t hone their social skills at school like they normally would.

In addition, some people don’t put in the work to find friends because they place more importance on finding a romantic relationship. In the book Platonic, Dr. Marisa G. Franco discusses how society puts more emphasis on finding your “other half” than it does on fostering good friendships. According to Dr. Franco, although romantic relationships can bring a person some degree of joy, having a network of friends is more important than having a partner. After all, friends can fulfill a variety of your social needs, while your partner may only be interested in doing some things. Plus, should things go south with your partnership, you’ll want a good number of friends to be in your corner!

Finally, sometimes, not developing healthy friendship dynamics comes down to age. Older people begin experiencing a lot of loss as their friends and family members die, making it difficult and heartbreaking to make new friends. So, if you know an older person in your life, make a point to get together with them on a regular basis so that they can enjoy the benefits of friendship more easily.

If you are an older person, we recommend joining some groups that do activities you love. That way, you’ll meet new people with similar interests, and you’ll get to do your favorite hobby together!

How to Foster Healthy Relationships

It’s important to keep in mind that friendship is a two-way street. It is also your responsibility to nurture the relationship and to be a good friend to those around you.

Here are a few ways that you can build meaningful relationships with friends – old and new:

• Check in with friends you haven’t heard from in a few months
• Be a good listener and also open and communicative about things going on in your life
• Celebrate milestones (connect with friends on birthdays, anniversaries, special occasions)
• Introduce yourself to new neighbors, coworkers, or people you want to learn more about
• Ask for the email addresses, phone numbers, or social media handles of acquaintances you just met
• Be reliable and follow through on your commitments to others
• Learn and try new things together
• Respect that other people may have different opinions or interests. You can still embrace the friendship without seeing eye-to-eye on everything!

Getting Help

If you’re concerned that something in your life will prevent you from making new friends, please consult a mental health professional. A trained therapist, social worker, psychologist, or psychiatrist has the ability to help you work through your thoughts and beliefs about yourself and boost your self-esteem.

That way, you’ll feel more confident getting out there and creating the connections you need to thrive and live a happier life!