I like this research:-
“I just finished taking an evening class at Stanford. The last lecture was on the mind-body connection–the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends. At first everyone laughed, but he was serious.
Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality “girlfriend time” helps us to create more serotonin–a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings?–rarely. Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters, and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.
There’s a tendency to think that when we are “exercising” we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged–not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking! So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky. So let’s toast to our friendship with our girlfriends. It’s very good for our health.”
kelloggsville
January 12, 2011I heard that if you do it over a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates the health benefits are tripled…no, honestly! Go girlfriend!
saz
January 12, 2011YEAH!!! if it wasnt for my gin queens hovering around me this morning, l may have felt worse….
after 7 weeks of fun and flattery….nada….
a something, a bridge to another something, sometime….
shame i wasnt quite ready to go….maybe l shouldnt, like PLAN B say, ‘stay too long’>>>>>
today its his welcome to hell day, tomorrow, l’m with ARETHA, rumer…..
new life, new pain, new hope..
and YES in answer to your question Lu!!! OMG yes!
saz xx
Family Affairs
January 12, 2011HOORAY Good for you Lxxx
Expat Mum
January 12, 2011So…sitting in my house on my own all day isn’t that good for me? Aw shucks.
Family Affairs
January 12, 2011Well. Sometimes it is. Not all the time Lx
Anna
January 14, 2011In Isabel Allende’s “House of Spirits” the patriarch, Esteban Trueba, repeatedly recommends marriage to his sons and at the same time tries to dissuade his daughter from marrying, because he thinks that a marriage represents a “raw deal” for the fair sex. His daughter doesn’t comply, but he doesn’t give up: minutes before he gives her away, he offers her an out telling her to run whereas he “would undertake to disperse the crowd”. It seems like Ms. Allende had the benefit of knowing someone with an insight into psychiatry. Good for her.
This doesn’t mean that marriage is necessarily bad for the woman,I hope, because I am married. However, not having girlfriends near is trying. I have the benefit of being really good friends with my mother and sister, but all the same, a few months ago I couldn’t help picking up the phone and calling and old childhood girlfriend back in Russia – the one that knows by heart all the intonations of my voice, can cut through any BS in a flash, make me laugh like few other people can. Unfortunately, she is very hard to get hold of on account of her life being very hectic (she is a single mother trying to support herself, her 12-year daughter, a 91 year old grandmother, a cat and three guinea pigs) and she is not an e-mail person either (same reasons). I miss her very much.
Family Affairs
January 15, 2011Ah that is sad Lx