A new study finds that spending time with friends has very positive effects on health.
The study was conducted by the University of Queensland in Australia, and used data from 7,700 Australian women between the ages of 45 and 50.
The study confirmed that having a group of friends in our lives in our late forties can reduce the risk of diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
“Our findings show the benefits of maintaining good social relationships in midlife,” said study author Xiaolin Xu. “Social connections should be considered a public health priority.”
The researchers tracked rates for 11 major conditions: diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, depression and anxiety.
Women who stayed away from social ties were 2.4 times more likely to develop more than one disease.
