EP 316 – Friendships Can Protect Our Health

Witmer and Sweeney found in their study that people with few ties to others had 2 to 5 times the death rate as those who had more ties.

Support and connectedness can be a powerful tool in preventing illness by acting as a buffer to the effects of stress. The benefit of friendship is having the emotional support of a community during difficult times.

Workplaces are also recognizing the value of support in their organizations. Effective leaders are evaluating their teams and ensuring that they reduce isolation, celebrate occasions and successes, develop trust through effective communication, deal with conflict and gossip in a direct and open way, promote a casual and friendly atmosphere, and develop a support network through human resources, an EAP or connection to community contacts.

Unfortunately, many people in the workplace do not make the effort to utilize this great coping strategy and the busier we have become the easier it is to let our existing friendships go by the way-side. So where do we start?

Here are today’s Hot Tips For Building Resiliency and Celebrating International Friendship Week:

At work and in your community, smile and say hello to those around you

Connect with your co-workers informally

Call, write or email those friends that you have lost touch with and book a date to get together

Connectedness and friendships have exceptional powers in decreasing our stress, if we venture to put ourselves ‘out there’.

If you like today’s wellness tips, let me know. You can leave me a review on amazon or through your #alexa app.

Want to check out more health and wellness related celebrations, visit my wellness calendars under the resources and courses tab at worksmartlivesmart.com