LifeStyleLifeStyle
Opening the Doors to Healthier and Stress-Free Living
A Column by Alice Abbott-Moore,Nothing Like Good Friends
February is often called the month of love. Well, I won’t get too spicy and talk about intimate relationships, but I would like to express the importance of friendships. As we all have heard, and know first hand, people need people. It is a lonely world without some interaction with others.
Strong connections with others have many benefits. Such benefits include improved physical health, decreased depression and anxiety, and empowered spirits. Studies have shown that people, women in particular, who have strong connections to other people seem to live longer. Strong ties help during times of high stress, illness, and other taxing life experiences. During rough times, friendship alone can help ease whatever pain we may experience be it emotional, physical or spiritual. Just having someone else there helps many of us not to feel as alone. Studies have also shown that people who have strong networks tend not to catch as many colds and viruses.
What a wonderful thing it is to have good friends, buddies with whom we can play, talk, and work. These are the people with whom we experience life. Such friends energize us in a positive way. They encourage us to seek knowledge about ourselves and to aspire to higher goals, while helping us to develop and nurture our interests and talents.
When we gather with our good friends, we are blessed. Perhaps you have lost touch with an old friend? Look up her or him. Such a deed will warm your heart and give you a lift during the cold months of mid-winter.
Mini-survey
I need your help. Please read the following questions and answer them. Responses can be sent to me via campus mail at Monographs, Ekstrom Library or send e-mail responses to: maabbo01@gwise.louisville.edu.