Your Circle of Friends Provides You Well-Being

The positive effects of having really good friendships on our mental health are many, which is why having meaningful connections is essential for our mental well-being. Good friends can help you to develop self-confidence and avoid unhealthy things.

People from a very young age need to have excellent friends in their lives. As proof of it, relationships with childhood buddies can last many years.

There's no doubt that friendship is one of the real secrets to happiness. Licensed Clinical Psychologist Julie D Bruno and Clinical Social Worker Hollis Silverman are colleagues and great friends. Both experts offer Therapy and Psychological Services to their patients. The duo sat down to discuss all the benefits that friendship brings into our lives. Here is their take on this topic.

Our friends can make our lives much better and add to our psychological, physical, and emotional health. They are with us through life's ups and downs, and there are many beneficial reasons why friends can make us better people all around.

Increase Our Wellbeing

People that have close social bonds tend to behave a stronger immune system and healthier hearts. According to Dr. Bruno, some studies show that people going through cancer but belong to a cancer survivor group or have a supportive network tend to have better outcomes with their treatment.

They Help Us to Take Care of Ourselves

Friends can also help us to keep in line. Sometimes in life, we need reality checks. For example, if you are engaging in behaviors that aren't good for you, real friends will be able to nudge a little bit and call you out on some of these behaviors. All of these in a way that's coming from a place of care and concern. Good friends also challenge you. This is why you should be open to hearing constructive feedback.

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Having Good Connections Benefits the Brain

Silverman explains that it is good for your brain to have those close social ties.

"Even if you spend time with your friend for just 10 minutes, that can improve your cognitive functioning and your ability to solve problems," highlights Silverman.

Inspire Us to Achieve Our Goals

Friends can also help you to achieve your goals. If you spend time with like-minded, positive, and goal-oriented people, you're going to start to have those types of aspirations for yourself. Sometimes humans mimic each other's behavior, so you'll begin to healthy competing with them.

One important thing to keep in mind is that to attract inspirational and amazing people that accept us as we are, we also need to be good friends. Qualities like empathy, respect, acceptance, tolerance, and trust are essential to building healthy friendships. If friends are the family that we choose, why don't we do things right? By being supportive and not judging the people you love, you will have a high quality of life.

If you have someone you care for and admire and you haven't talked with them in a long time, this is the perfect moment to get in contact again and show them how much you appreciate their presence in your life. Take care of your relationships with love and respect.