Articles & Studies
Girlfriends Help Women Live Longer
Women deal with so many stressors in life and that is not to say men do not. It is just that women seem to take on more as wives, mothers and daughters. This is an addition to career stress which adds to an already full life. Stress is a normal response that we feel when we are overwhelmed and overworked. There are many women walking around permanently stressed out. How do we and how should we deal with the stress in our lives in productive ways?
There are new studies showing that close female friendship is one way as women we can hit the release valve on our stress. We need that bond with other women and yet as life gets busier and busier it seems to be the first relationship we sacrifice. When you feel stress the chemical reaction in your body is to take flight (run) or fight. This is an evolutionary necessity to survival especially for our counterparts in the stone age. Nowadays in our society there is rarely a need to fight for our life or run away to save ourselves so we are left with these feelings and need an outlet to release them. That is where friends can actually save your life. The Harvard Medical School released a Nurses’ Health Study that concluded that not cultivating and keeping our close friendships with other women is harmful to our health. Women with more friends tend to lead happier lives and suffer fewer premature aging issues. This may explain why women enjoy a longer life span than men. As researchers have looked at the reasons behind all this they discovered that women nurture each other in ways that only women can do and offer a time and place in this hectic world to escape the pressure of life. The periods of stress relief can add up to better health, better overall relationships and more effective mothering. As much as we would all like to talk to our husbands about things, they cannot always understand our life and the pressures we feel as they have a somewhat different experience. We are just built differently and other women can often understand your feelings better.
Every relationship in our lives is important but we have to resist allowing our female friendships to be pushed behind the other priorities in life. Make time for each other, everyone will survive and we are better mothers, wives and daughters when we put our female friendships on priority status occasionally.
Reference
Taylor, S.E., Klein, L.C., Lewis, B. P., Gruenewald, T. L., Gurung, R.A.R., and Updegraff, J. A. Biobehavioral responses to stress in females: Tend-and-befriend, not fight-or-flight. Psychological Review, 107(3), 41-429.
Related Articles
4 Comments
Alvin
Sure Alvin, please find the link to article in the reference.
Trackbacks
- Dec 27, 2007 | Lawyers Appreciate Their Friends | The Inspired Solo
- Dec 31, 2007 | Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog Carnival 30 | FitBuff.com's Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog
Leave a Reply
Thursday, August 28, 2008
- The Anti-Psychiatry Movement
- Vaccines - A Two-Edged Sword
- Should Doctors Have Guns?
- Extremist Muslim Doctors Do More Than Heal
- Woman Comparable to Men in Domestic Violence: Stereotypes and their Consequences
- The Bipolar Trend
- The Implications of Implanted Chips
- Anti-Smoking Campaign Doesn't Mess Around
- The Biopsychosocial Model of Health & Illness
- Unhinging from Theory: Autism and Opinions
- God And Religion: Is It All In Our Heads?
- The Science of Brain Freeze
- Encephalon, Thirty-Third Edition
- Meditation for Troubled Minds: Can the Mind Heal the Mind?
- Mind-Body: We Want Evidence, Don't We?
- Is War A Psychosis?
- Usually It's Cheaper to Pay Than to Go To Court
- Acknowledging Vaccination Concerns
- Integrating Schizophrenia Management
- Rabies Virus Helps Deliver Drugs into the Brain
- The Gift of Life - Part 2
- Drugs and Pharmacology, Tenth Edition
- Are Drug Reps Really Necessary?
- Can Drug Therapy Prevent Parkinson’s Disease?
- Medicine and the Law - Part 6: Third Party Liability
- Go For The Gold, It May Prolong Your Life
- When It Comes to Health, Adults Shortchange Kids
- Is Seeing Into the Future More Than an Optical Illusion?
- Malignant Medicine
- Putting an End to Medicare Fraud
- The Gift of Life - Part 1
- Brain Blogging, Thirty-Eight Edition
- The Mental Health of our Military
- Will Money Improve NYC’s Health?
- Culturally Competent Care - Are Health Care Providers Doing Enough?
- Conflicts of Interest Among Physicians II
- How To Talk To Kids About Sex
- Sleep and Consciousness - A Dynamic State of Being
- HIV-Positive? Start Meditating
- Public Health Needs a Shot in the Arm
- This is really great information. I just recently signed up to be on the regist...
- Thank you! My son recently had a bone marrow transplant and I stand in awe of a...
- Thanks for including my IC Disease site in the blog carnival! I posted a link b...
- Hey thanks for the addition to the carnival - much appreciated!!
Barry B...
- Please reread the article. The chip contains a 16 digit ID number, the equivale...
- Are Drug Reps Really Necessary?
No.
But I sure do miss the great food we u...
- There is certainly a trend in being diagnosed bi-polar. Hollywood underlies tha...
- To respond to your questions...
Q: Are people merely misinformed?
A: Yes...
- Curbside...I had a doctor do that after I discovered that my parathyroid measure...
- I have read all your articles concerning medicine and law. You provided here rat...
- The only two drugs that are mood stabilizers used to treat biopolar depression (...
- To the God who heals:
Dear God,
I know lots of people who could...
- Hi JR,
I don't have any children to influence, so the only one I'm currently ...
- There is a lot more to be discovered about the placebo effect, especially in the...
- In Delaware County, PA where I was an intern, the insurance companies were ruthl...
- It always amazes me that malpractice is so low among lawyers compared to doctors...
- how many days lithium take o recover fully
is there any drug above aithium for ...
- This new diagnostic method of near-infrared optical spectroscopy is a great brea...
- But of course, the correct answer is that both systems compensa...
- Thank you for expressing well ,my sentiments Exactly !!! It's been my experienc...
Advertisement
Sponsored Links
Online Criminal Justice Degrees, Insurance, Home Loans, Free Movies, California DUI Lawyer, Tattoo, Health Insurance, Drug Rehabilitation, Mesothelioma Lawyer, Hydroxycut, Custom Rubber Stamps, Unique Gift Ideas , mesothelioma facts , Scorpio Traits , vehicle tracking , vasectomy reversal , Dallas Divorce Attorney , funny t-shirts , Free Insurance Quotes.
Neuroscience & Neurology
August 25, 2008 | 0 Comments | By Jennifer Gibson, PharmD
Can Drug Therapy Prevent Parkinson’s Disease?
More In Neuroscience & Neurology
- Is Seeing Into the Future More Than an Optical Illusion?
- When Age Is Just A Number
- Virtual Reality - New Steps in Stroke Rehabilitation
- The Science of Brain Freeze
- Blood Glucose and the Brain: Sugar and Short-Term Memory
Neuroscience & Neurology
Opinion
August 27, 2008 | 2 Comments | By Sajid Surve, DO
The Gift of Life - Part 2
More In Opinion
- Are Drug Reps Really Necessary?
- Malignant Medicine
- The Gift of Life - Part 1
- Medical Students Can Make A Difference
- Can this Economic Downturn Lead to Better Psychosocial Health?
Opinion
Psychiatry & Psychology
August 15, 2008 | 2 Comments | By Jennifer Gibson, PharmD
The Mental Health of our Military
More In Psychiatry & Psychology
- Sleep and Consciousness - A Dynamic State of Being
- Finding New Ways to Treat Depression
- Dying To Be A Good Mom - Eating Disorders In Pregnancy
- The State of Mental Healthcare in Prison
- Treating Psychiatric Disorders - Something Smells Fishy


Do you have link to the research results? Seems so interesting.