I just finished watching a video from a lecture class at Stanford University. The 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, football, golf? Yes. But their feelings? Rarely.
Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers/best friends, 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, this however is 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. Evidently it's very good for our health. :)
I enjoyed this very much :) Discussed in the office and retweeted. Always new girl time was doing me good. With the news that red wine and dark chocolate are also beneficial, I think this makes my life complete!
ReplyDeleteThis is so true. As I said in my comment on facebook, you can always change your partners husbands etc but best friends are non changeable, unconditional, and always there for you. Great blog Little Miss V
ReplyDeleteKaty, there is nothing better tthan a night with your girls with some choc and a glass of wine. Raise that wine glass girl!
ReplyDeleteThat's what I always tell my friends. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT ever forget your girl friends when you find a man. :D
ReplyDeleteNice.... you are so right. My dad often scolds me if I talk to my friends for too long, telling me to study. But the 'talking' makes me happier and fresher
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