That hanging out with our girlfriends is a sure shot way of feeling better is not something anyone needs to be told. We have all felt it, and we know it to be true. But, there’s more than just a ‘feel good’ factor at play here. Turns out, spending time with your girlfriend has health benefits that go beyond being a mood uplifter. Several studies have shown that strong female friendships reduce blood pressure, stress levels, and boost immunity. According to one study, breast cancer survivors with a strong support system of women in their lives had better recovery and lived longer. Yet another study showed that close female relationships increase the level of progesterone in our system, which in turn lifts our mood, and lowers stress levels. And we all know the havoc that stress can wreak in our bodies! From hypertension to heart disease, almost all diseases have been shown to be linked to stress.
Something also needs to be said about the harmful effects of loneliness. Research shows that people who are socially isolated, and lonely, tend to die sooner, and experience psychological problems like depression and anxiety more often than those who are socially well-adjusted. We know that love can be fragile, and families can be turbulent. But, often, the most stable relationships that women share are with other women, and this prevents loneliness immensely. Further, just like when we cuddle with our partner, spending time with girlfriends also releases high levels of oxytocin – the attachment hormone, which also contributes to lower stress levels, and better health in general.
There is a deeper emotional benefit – peripheral, as it may be – of female bonding. A solid community based on sisterhood has the potential to immunise us from the toll that troubles in other areas of life may take on us. Take bad relationships, for example. A woman in a toxic relationship, or going through a bad breakup, who doesn’t have girlfriends to confide in, and feel understood by, is more vulnerable to depression and lower self-esteem compared to a woman who has good friends backing her up, and keeping her afloat. Now, of course, this is not to say that our girlfriends lessen the pain of heartbreak. It’s more that if we have loving, nurturing, and caring women in our lives who are there to put balm on our wounds, we are less likely to go into septic shock!
