朋友對我們很重要

Most of the research on health and relation-ships is focused on romantic partners. But re-searchers have found that our friendships actually have a bigger impact on our health.

Here are two of the findings about the health benefits of having friends：

A 10- year Australian study found that older people with a large circle of friends were 22 per-cent less likely to die during the study period than those with fewer friends.

A study of nearly 3，000 nurses with breast

大多數(shù)針對健康和人際關(guān)系的研究都聚焦于愛情伴侶，但研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)友情對人的健康其實有更大的影響。

下面有兩條研究，是關(guān)于朋友帶來的益處：

澳大利亞開展的一項長達十年的調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，在這十年中，朋友圈子大的老人死亡風(fēng)險比朋友較少的人低22%。

一項針對約3000名患乳腺癌護士的

cancer found that women without close friends were four times as likely to die from the disease as women with 10 or more friends.

Why are friendships so good for us？ Scien-tists have a few theories.

Logistical support： Friends can run errands and pick up medicine for a sick person， although in most studies， proximity was not a factor in the benefits of friendship.

Association： It may be that people with strong social ties also have better access to health services and care or are more likely to seek help.

Less stress： People with strong friendships are less likely than others to get colds， perhaps be-cause they have lower stress levels.

While we need to remember that friendships undergo a natural churn as our lives change， some friendships end simply because we have neglected them.

Of course， great friendships can often weath-er these highs and lows， but imagine how much better those connections would be if we gave our friendships the regular care and feeding they need.

Just as you might schedule a business meet-ing， it’s important to build friendship mainte-nance into your weekly schedule.

If your home life will allow it， give yourself a friends’night out once or twice a month， rotat-ing the friends with whom you spend time.

When life gets hectic because of parenting or work demands， your friendships tend to be the first to suffer.

But if you schedule friend dates regularly， your friendships will stay strong no matter what challenges are ahead.

Indeed， a close friend may bring more emo-tional support than you have thought.

研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，比起擁有十個或以上朋友的患者，沒有親密朋友的患者面臨的死亡風(fēng)險高了三倍。

為什么友誼對我們有這些好處呢？科學(xué)家做了些猜想。

日常性支持：如果你生病了，朋友可以為你跑腿買藥，盡管在大多數(shù)研究中，距離鄰近不是構(gòu)成友誼好處的因素。

社會聯(lián)系：與社會聯(lián)系緊密的人更能得到醫(yī)療服務(wù)和護理，更能尋求到幫助。

壓力更小：有親密朋友的人比其他人更少患感冒，可能是因為他們壓力更小。

然而我們該知道隨著生活的變化，友誼也會經(jīng)歷自然的轉(zhuǎn)變。與某些人的友誼斷絕，只是因為我們過去忽略了那些朋友。

當(dāng)然，堅固的友誼能經(jīng)受住風(fēng)風(fēng)雨雨，但試想一下，如果我們對朋友經(jīng)常表達關(guān)心，了解他們的需求，那么你與他們的關(guān)系會變得多么緊密。

正如你會安排時間參加工作會議一樣，把維護友誼寫進日程里也很重要。

如果你的家庭生活允許，一個月花一兩晚跟朋友出去玩，跟他們輪流著來。

因照顧孩子或工作需要，生活變得忙碌起來時，友情往往首當(dāng)其沖受到影響。

但如果你經(jīng)常安排時間與朋友相聚，那么無論遇到什么挑戰(zhàn)，你們的友誼都會很堅固。

其實，親密的朋友帶給你的情感支持比你以為的要多。