How Having Friends Can Improve Your Mental Health & Overall Well-being

As you grow older, you realise that your circle of friends seems to be getting smaller and smaller. However, this is also the time when you as an adult are juggling a lot of responsibilities as well as understanding new aspects of your life. From being busy with work to giving time to your family, hanging out with friends can sometimes take a backseat. But friends are much more important than you realise for your well-being and mental health.

How are friends important for one's well-being?

Friendships totally enrich your life in more ways than one. Not only do friends let you be your true self but having good friends can definitely mean that your support system is intact. Research by Yang YC, Boen C, Gerken K, Li T, Schorpp K, and Harris KM titled "Social relationships and physiological determinants of longevity across the human life span" stated that having good friends is as important for your health as exercising and eating the right food.

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Other than that there are various ways in which friendships can benefit you:

They can actually benefit your physical health

Having a close circle of friends can help you tackle health problems like diabetes, heart attack, and stroke. A 2010 study titled "Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review" stated that having strong social relationships can lead to half the risk of premature death from generally all the causes.

It also is a cause of the decline in loneliness and isolation which as per a study titled "Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: A meta-analytic review" causes various health problems such as high blood pressure, substance abuse, heart disease, and even cancer.

They can help you cope with stress

Being stressed due to work or other responsibilities is pretty common nowadays. However, too much of it can lead to other problems including mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. But having good friends with who you are in contact and venting out stuff to can help you reduce stress. As per a study by the National Library of Medicine titled "Social relations and life satisfaction: the role of friends", it was noted that having strong friendships can not only help you cope with stress but can also let you not have any stress in the first place.

"Honestly, whenever I have issues with my job or my boss or just like even with my boyfriend, I call or just meet my best friend. It is the best stress buster. I can vent out to her literally anything and she would just vent out with me. It is so wholesome," says 26-year-old Malika.

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They encourage you to better yourself

When you know you have a pretty strong group of friends or even just a couple of friends, you know you can rely on them without any sort of judgement. When you're having a downfall whether it is health-wise or any other aspect of your life, your true friends would definitely encourage you to go in the right direction. As per a study by "Influence in relationships: A meta-analysis on health-related social control," friends can help you maintain your goals, exercise and even eat a healthy diet.

They can also help you get out of your unhealthy habits such as leaving alcohol or drugs.

"I got into the habit of smoking too much. This is mostly because I had just gone through a breakup. I was smoking an entire box every day, sometimes even more. My best friend was my saving grace at that time. He started nagging me every time I smoked. He even broke my cigarettes a lot of times. After a while, I realized how bad it was for me." says 24-year-old Mohit.

They are there for emotional support

If you are going through a hard time in your life, friends are the best people to go to. They understand you in and out. They know your fears and the things you stress about. They also know how you react to different things. It was mentioned how happy friends can also make you feel well emotionally. As per a study titled "Spreading of healthy mood in adolescent social networks," it was noted that high school children who were depressed were twice as likely to get out of it if they had happy friends. It was also noted that kids were less likely to get depression if their friends were in a healthy mood.

"I was really depressed after a break-up and if I didn't have my friends I don't know how I would have survived that. Now that I'm at a better place I don't get how they kept listening to me ranting all the time and didn't leave me. Just love them." says 24-year-old Bhavya.

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They provide a sense of belonging

Sense of belonging is basically when you have a group of people or an environment where you feel like you belong. Like you are a part of something. Having friends look at you when they want to hang out or when they want to talk about something can make you feel special. As per a study by the National Library of Medicine titled "From the Outside Looking In: Sense of Belonging, Depression, and Suicide Risk" it was denoted that a group of friends can make you feel like you belong. This is something that fulfils both your emotional health need and helps decreases feelings of depression and hopelessness.

How to make sure to maintain your friendships?

While having a close-knit group of friends is definitely a blessing in disguise, sometimes due to other responsibilities in life you tend to become out of touch with them. There are different ways in which you can definitely maintain your friendships even when it seems difficult:

Always stay in touch

Thanks to a lot of social media mediums, there are several ways in which you can see what your friends are doing in life. Just calling, texting or replying to their stories can make a huge difference in being in touch. Other than that, it is always a good idea to make plans or even initiate them.

Try bonding over similar interests

While it is easy to get with friends when you are in school or college, it gets lightly difficult when you choose different paths after becoming adults. So, remembering or understanding what you and your friends like and going for it can be a way to bond better. It can be taking a hobby or playing a sport or just bonding over some shared nostalgia.

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So, if you haven't said hi to your friend for a while, there can never be a better time than now.