6 Benefits of Friendship and Why It's So Important to Stay Close

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsPhysical HealthHealthy BehaviorsEmotional SupportConfidence BuildingStress ReductionFriends Help You Cultivate CommunityMotivationFrequently Asked Questions

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Physical Health

Healthy Behaviors

Emotional Support

Confidence Building

Stress Reduction

Friends Help You Cultivate Community

Motivation

Frequently Asked Questions

Close

In an age where many of us feel lonelier and more disconnected than ever—despite being chronically online—it’s never been more important to invest extra energy into our friendships.Platonic relationshipsare sometimes overlooked in our quest for romantic ones, but friendship is just as important to our psychological well-being.

Friendshipscan enrich your life in countless ways. Good friends teach you about yourself and challenge you to be better. They encourage you to keep going when times get tough and celebrate your successes with you. They help you build community.

At a GlanceFriends do a lot more than give you a shoulder to cry on; they also positively impact your health. Some research even says friendships are as important to your well-being as eating right and exercising.Friendships help you stay healthier (physically and mentally). They encourage you to stick to healthy behaviors (and avoid unhealthy ones). They also provide emotional support in tough times and create a buffer against stress. The sense of community they provide also helps you to feel more connected to your greater community. So cultivate those close friendships! It turns out that your besties help you stay healthier, happier, and less stressed.

At a Glance

Friends do a lot more than give you a shoulder to cry on; they also positively impact your health. Some research even says friendships are as important to your well-being as eating right and exercising.Friendships help you stay healthier (physically and mentally). They encourage you to stick to healthy behaviors (and avoid unhealthy ones). They also provide emotional support in tough times and create a buffer against stress. The sense of community they provide also helps you to feel more connected to your greater community. So cultivate those close friendships! It turns out that your besties help you stay healthier, happier, and less stressed.

How the 4 Types of Friendship Fit Into Your Life

Friends Are Good for Your Physical Health

It turns out thathealthy relationshipsactually contribute to good physical health. Having a close circle of friends can decrease your risk of health problems like diabetes, heart attack, and stroke.

Social isolation and loneliness arelinked to a variety of health issuessuch as high blood pressure, substance abuse, heart disease, and even cancer.

Friends Encourage Healthy Behaviors

One possible explanation for those health benefits is that friendships can help you make lifestyle changes that can have a direct impact on your well-being. For example, your friends can help youset and maintain goalsto eat better and exercise more. They can also watch out for you and give a heads-up when any unhealthy behaviors (likedrinking too much) get out of hand.

That friend may also suggest activities that you would not have considered on your own—thus, pushing you outside your comfort zone to challenge your anxiety.

Reaching Out to Others Has a Greater Impact Than You’d Expect

Friends Provide Emotional Support

If you find yourself going through a hard time,having a friend to help you throughcan make the transition easier. Emotional support involves offering comfort andempathy.

Research also shows thathappinessis contagious among friends. One study of high school students found that those who were depressed were twice as likely to recover if they had happy friends. Likewise, kids were half as likely to develop depression if their friends had a “healthy mood.”

Dealing With No Support from Family When You’re Depressed

Friends Help Build Your Confidence

Everyone has self-doubts and insecurities every now and then. But having friends who support you plays a big role in building yourself-esteem. When people around you provide validation, it impacts your ability to love and appreciate yourself.

Friends Help You Beat Stress

Everyone goes through stressful events. If you know you have people you can count on, you may be less likely even to perceive a tough time as stressful.

Spending time with friends can alsohelp reduce stress. According to Harvard Medical School, “social connections help relieve levels of stress, which can harm the heart’s arteries, gut function, insulin regulation, and the immune system.”

Friends can also help you cope with stressful situations.

Research suggests that when children hang out with their friends during a stressful situation, they produce less cortisol, a hormone released when the body is under stress. Kids who talk to a good friend after a negative experience also return to a relaxed state more quickly than those who do not.

Other research has shown that teens who have higher levels of perceived social support have lower cortisol responses to stress. They also have lower neural activity in the areas of the brain that are often associated with the social distress people experience when they are socially excluded.

As the song goes: “We all need somebody to lean on.”

A lack of friendscan leave you feeling lonely and without support, which makes you vulnerable to other problems such as depression and substance abuse.

How Social Support Contributes to Psychological Health

While we might all be pretty good at building online communities, our in person ones are seriously lacking. When we invest the energy in our friendships, and then encourage our friends to be friends with each other it fosters a sense of community.

A healthy community can help us feel more at home in our towns and cities When we’re out and about and we see people we know—at the grocery store, at a local cafe, etc—it lets us know that we are part of something bigger and that we belong.

Research has found that a sense of community is associated with decreased symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression.

Friends Push You To Be Your Best

Ever heard some version of the phrase, “you are the average of the people you spend your time with”? The people we’re friends with have the power to influence our own values and character.

When you prioritize friendships with people who are generous with their time, help others, or are ambitious or family-oriented, you are more likely to develop those values yourself.

Great friends have the power to mold you into the best version of yourself. They see you and love you for who you truly are. They encourage you and push you to do better and be the person you want to be—your “ideal self.”

Takeaways

The social support that friendships provide is vital to mental health and well-being. Unfortunately, reports suggest that loneliness is at an all-time high. According to one survey, 27% of millennials report having no close friends.

‘I Don’t Need Friends’: Why You Might Feel This Way

Frequently Asked QuestionsThere are many different components of friendship. If someone is loyal to you, honest with you, shares many of your interests, and is there for you when you need them, you would likely consider them a friend.Many of the benefits of friends could be considered evolutionary—having a group of friends can create feelings of safety and social inclusion. Caring for others, and having others that care for you in turn, can help foster a collective purpose and feelings of self-worth.

There are many different components of friendship. If someone is loyal to you, honest with you, shares many of your interests, and is there for you when you need them, you would likely consider them a friend.

Many of the benefits of friends could be considered evolutionary—having a group of friends can create feelings of safety and social inclusion. Caring for others, and having others that care for you in turn, can help foster a collective purpose and feelings of self-worth.

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15 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation, 2023.

Yang YC, Boen C, Gerken K, Li T, Schorpp K, Harris KM.Social relationships and physiological determinants of longevity across the human life span.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016;113(3):578-583. doi:10.1073/pnas.1511085112

Naito R, McKee M, Leong D, et al.Social isolation as a risk factor for all-cause mortality: Systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.PLoS One. 2023;18(1):e0280308. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0280308

Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Baker M, Harris T, Stephenson D.Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: A meta-analytic review.Perspect Psychol Sci. 2015;10(2):227-237. doi:10.1177/1745691614568352

Morelli SA, Lee IA, Arnn ME, Zaki J.Emotional and instrumental support provision interact to predict well-being.Emotion. 2015;15(4):484–493. doi:10.1037/emo0000084

Hill EM, Griffiths FE, House T.Spreading of healthy mood in adolescent social networks.Proc Biol Sci. 2015;282(1813):20151180. doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.1180

Harvard Medical School.The health benefits of strong relationships.

Scheuplein M, van Harmelen AL.The importance of friendships in reducing brain responses to stress in adolescents exposed to childhood adversity: A preregistered systematic review.Current Opinion in Psychology. 2022;45:101310. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101310

Shadur J, Hussong A.Friendship intimacy, close friend drug use, and self-medication in adolescence.J Soc Pers Relat. 2014;31(8):997-1018. doi:10.1177/0265407513516889

Park EY, Oliver TR, Peppard PE, Malecki KC.Sense of community and mental health: a cross-sectional analysis from a household survey in Wisconsin.Fam Med Community Health. 2023;11(2):e001971. doi:10.1136/fmch-2022-001971

Houle J, Meunier S, Coulombe S, et al.Peer positive social control and men’s health-promoting behaviors.Am J Mens Health. 2017;11(5):1569-1579. doi:10.1177/1557988317711605

Cox DA.The state of American friendship: Change, challenges, and loss. Survey Center on American Life.

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