5 Bizarre Truths About Friendships

Shutterstock.com

Friends – they are the family that you get to pick. We cultivate circles of friendship that help us become the people God intended. We lean on them when times get rough and embrace them when life is at its best. Can you imagine a world where friends didn’t exist? Probably not and that’s a good thing because friends are life lines. We need friends for the various phases of life that we experience – and you’ll find, during your journey, that some people are placed in our life because they are meant to get us through a specific time.

There are a lot of demands in the average person’s day-to-day and being intentional about adding being social to your to-do list can seem very overwhelming and almost unbearable. However, the benefits of having friends and the natural endorphins your body receives from being a social entity within a circle is truly worth it.

Believe it or not, there is actually a lot of science and research behind the relationships of friendship. There is seriously a rhyme and reason as to why certain friendships are closer than other and even insightful information on how to be a good friend to each of your different friends. After you learn about the statistics and research about friendships, you’ll be very enlightened and may even have the answers you’ve been searching for – perhaps you’ll get answers to questions you didn’t even know you had.

Animal Friendships

Shutterstock.com

We did not forget about your special friendship with your fur babies! Whether your family pet is a cat, dog, bird or fish, there is an indescribable bond you share. Did you know that animals can form lifelong friends with individuals that are not from their own species?

It’s true – and that’s probably one of the many reasons nature is such a beautiful thing. Chimpanzees, horses, elephants and even dolphins have friends that are not like themselves. Did you also know that animals also participate and engage in stable friendships? For example, female humpback whales form last bongs and even have summer vacations together. Each summer female humpback whales retreat to various gulfs and hang out with their other whale friends – then when the season is over they go to other areas that they call home. Researchers have followed the whales for years and tracked their movements. The whales even communicate and specifically hang out with another female whale each annual retreat.

The Odds of Your Friendship Lasting

Shutterstock.com

Did you know the average person will form 396 personal friendships during their lifetime? Of that 396, only 33 of those friendships will actually last – making that a statistic of 1 in 12. If you’re questioning the validity of this data, think about it and do the math. It pans out, right? Now to dive into that 33 number a little deeper. Of that 33, only five of these people are considered to be a close friend and the rest are usually categorized as social friendships. However, a lot of people like to think that they have more close friends and believe meeting up for a casual lunch or dinner is more than it actually is.

Researchers have found that people are much more mobile, than they were a decade ago. The general population enjoys traveling and invention of social media has definitely contributed to the unlikeliness of people becoming friends.

Healthy Life

Shutterstock.com

Since the early 1980s, researchers have conducted research to identify whether or not having close friends really matters and whether or not it contributes to a healthier lifestyle. Consistent studies and feedback have proven that it indeed does. In fact, people who do not have friends, family or community ties are 50 percent more likely to die at an early age.

While the demands of being social can be emotionally taxing, the connections derived from these relationships can be seriously helpful to your health. Doctors have even looked at: blood pressure, body mass index, waist size and inflammation levels to identify whether or not there was a positive feedback when a person has a social life – and the verdict is, it does. A person who is socially active has lower blood pressure, is less likely to be obese and doesn’t battle with inflammation issues associated with protein levels.

Friendships and Marriage

Shutterstock.com

The aspect of friendship is definitely an important factor when it comes to marriage. Every healthy marriage is built upon a foundation of friendship because let’s face it, attraction is not purely based on looks – and nor should it be. Having definitive communication lines is crucial within every friendship and that is no different in the unity of marriage.

Think of it this way, if you’re willing to pledge an oath of eternity and spend the rest of your life with someone then you better really like them. Your spouse is your person. The one person you can always depend on. The one person you can be completely honest with. Oftentimes, the definition of friendship is separated from our spouses. Yet, in all truth, our spouses should be considered our best friends because they are in it for the long haul and genuinely are always looking out for our best interest.

Friends Have Similar DNA

It’s totally true, best friends often times have similar DNA. According to a study conducted by Yale University and the University of California at San Diego, good friends are often genetically similar and share as much as one percent of the same gene variants. To put that into perspective, a little more, your best friend genetically is in comparison of a fourth cousin.

The study was published in the July edition of the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences and looked at 1.5 million gene variants from the Framingham Heart Study. Participants were predominately from European decent and researchers compared pairs of friends with pairs of strangers.

In response to the study, Nicholas Christakis, professor of sociology, evolutionary biology, and medicine at Yale told Time Magazine, “This gives us a deeper accounting of the origins of friendship. Not only do we form times with people superficially like ourselves, we form ties with people who are like us on a deep genetic level. They’re like our kin, though they’re not.”

Friends are precious – both through their relationships and scientifically. There are so many benefits to having close friends because these people are the circle that sustains us throughout the good, normal and ugly. That stability is very important and provides a great deal of strength within our core as individuals. Naturally, humans want to social because it’s written in their DNA and satisfying that need is important and will result in a healthier and happier individual.

If you’re struggling in the friend department, consider joining a small group at church, going to a local recreation meet up for your community, or perhaps just striking up a conversation with a stranger at your local coffee shop.