More and more studies highlight the health benefits of friendship, a drug without side effects and inexpensive! According to the results of a new study published in the medical journal Scientific Reports, friendship would be more effective than opiate-based drugs in fighting pain. The more people are surrounded, the more they are resistant to suffering.
Endorphins are hormones involved in the pain circuit. These hormones with analgesic properties would also promote social ties. On this basis, researchers from the University of Oxford (United Kingdom) imagined that the endorphins released by friendship could be a natural painkiller as powerful as morphine drugs.
They recruited 1,100 participants and analyzed the link between friendship (ie the number of people contacted at least once a month, but less than once a week) and pain tolerance.
The results of this study revealed that participants who were very surrounded and had stronger social ties would have a higher pain tolerance. The study also tells us that higher levels of stress are also associated with smaller social networks…
As friendship is often implicated in our physical and social health, it is important for researchers to understand the neurobiological mechanisms of social construction.
“As a species, we have evolved to thrive in a socially rich environment, but in this digital age, deficiencies in our social interactions may be among the overlooked factors that contribute to the deterioration of our health,” concludes Katerina Johnson l author of the study.
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