Will our loneliness kill us?

Count your friends, including only those you think you would be happy to talk to if things really touched your fans. It may seem like a silly high school exercise to measure your status in society, but assessing the interpersonal relationships in your adult life can tell you how healthy you are.

Your friends can help you keep healthy. (Image: g-stockstudio/istock/gettyimages)

How does the relationship benefit? On the other hand, a strong confidant is a health booster - no medication is required. & Theodore said: "Having a reliable support system is very helpful to relieve the stress in our life. The less the pressure is, the happier and healthier our overall life will be."

The 2010 meta-analysis also found that good social relationships were associated with a 50% increase in survival. Research in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior also points out that knowing someone can rely on lowering blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormones. However, these additional allowances are only related to positive relationships. Those stressful, dramatic relationships (you know them) will ultimately be detrimental to your health and well-being, especially if you turn to unhealthy habits such as junk food, drugs and alcohol. Another fact about

is that if your friends are not healthy, their bad habits may leave a mark on you. So Mom was right: choose your friends wisely. A survey of about 3,300 people by social media in the UK in 2016 on the loneliness epidemic found that the average person has 155 to 183 friends on Facebook, but in times of crisis, respondents tend to feel comfortable with three to four clients. Robin Dunbar, a researcher, believes that although online relationships seem easier to maintain, face-to-face communication is a necessary condition for friendship.

Dunbar wrote in his research report that friendship, in particular, has a natural decline rate without contact, and social media is likely to play a role in slowing down the decline rate. & However, if friendship is not occasionally strengthened through face-to-face exchanges, this alone may not be enough to prevent the eventual natural demise of friendship. & quot;

So don't rely on technology and social media to maintain friendship. Emails that "like", "comment" and "forward" are not always what they seem to be true relationship builders. & "Interacting with friends online does not satisfy our need for contact and intimacy as we do face-to-face," Theodore said.

Another disadvantage is that a quick look at social media can frustrate you --- for example, when you see pictures of friends gathering without you, your self-esteem will suffer. & "Social media provides us with a front seat to experience the highlights of other people's social lives, which can lead to discomfort and loneliness," Theodore said.

How to make and fight loneliness doesn't mean you have to be surrounded all day. You just need to feel supported. If you think you don't have a team to trust, consider the following thoughts:

• If you feel lonely, use it to show that it's time to change your life, Theodore said. The AARP study found that lonely people are less likely to engage in social situations, such as helping in the community or attending religious ceremonies. So if you want to make new friends, start there: cultivate hobbies or join local community groups full of like-minded people.
  
• You can strengthen your current friendship offline. Keep up with building relationships by planning to have a cup of coffee or a meal together in real life.
  
• IF You don't have time to spend hours with friends and invite them to go on business. Maybe you can go shopping in the grocery store, exercise or manicure your nails on your to-do list while providing friendship with the TLC it needs.