Summary

Original source:
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2005/06/21/health/doc42b8b5845bed1495027331.txt

Details

• Across species and throughout human cultures, females have banded together for protection and mutual support.
• They have groomed each other, tended each other's young, nursed each other in illness and engaged in the kind of aimless sociability that has generally mystified male anthropologists.
• It may help explain one of medical science's most enduring mysteries: why women, on average, have lower rates of heart disease and longer life expectancies than men.
• "Women are much more social in the way they cope with stress," says Shelley E. Taylor, author of "The Tending Instinct" and a social neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
• "Men are more likely to deal with stress with a 'fight or flight' reaction --- with aggression or withdrawal."
• But aggression and withdrawal take a physiological toll, and friendship brings comfort that mitigates the ill effects of stress, Taylor says.
• To be sure, friendships --- the feeling of being connected to a supportive network --- profoundly affect the health of both genders, according to researchers.
• Men and women who report loneliness die earlier, get sick more often and weather transitions with greater physical wear and tear than those who say they have a support network of friends or family.
• Researchers attribute the difference to women's greater reliance on friendships outside of marriage.
• Increasingly, researchers think that the hormone oxytocin is, for women especially, the elixir of friendship --- and, by extension, of health.
• Present in men and women, oxytocin levels spike in females following childbirth and when nursing.
• Stacy Anderson, a 36-year-old Culver City, Calif., mother of two young children, recognizes oxytocin's effects.
• For women, there is some evidence that a male partner, in times of stress, can make things worse.

Related Articles

Popular Topics: Health, Friendship, Disease, Diabetes, Breast cancer, Prostate cancer, Heart disease, Depression, High cholesterol, Osteoporosis, Vaccines, Autism, ADHD, Infertility, Weight loss, Cancer, Alzheimer's, Trans fats, Acrylamides, Fluoride, Mercury	Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com Email this article to a friend Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/009511_health_friendship_disease.html Reprinting this article: Non-commercial use OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link. <a href = "http://www.NaturalNews.com/009511_health_friendship_disease.html">Scientists find that friendships between women may have health benefits</a>
Receive our Natural Health Newsletter for FREE Subscribe now (it's free!) to win. We randomly choose a subscriber each month to send $100 in eco-home products or a RealGoods.com gift certificate (our choice). Plus, you'll receive FREE news, articles and action alerts from NaturalNews.com editors and join over 800,000 monthly readers who report extraordinary health improvements after becoming a subscriber! Receive breaking news alerts on natural health solutions, renewable energy, the environment, global warming and more. Receive a free instant download of our $29 Secret Sources guide that reveals top sources for little-known health and diet solutions.	Your Email Address: Free Subscription Code: Enter the numbers you see: 100% free of charge. Unsubscribe anytime. Absolutely no spam. We respect your email privacy.
Recommended Special Report: Seven Words that can Change the World by Joseph R. Simonetta Read this special report now... "Seven Words That Can Change the World reveals the astonishing, simple truths that have the power to forever transform our world for the better while freeing our minds from the enslavement of limiting beliefs. This is not a text for the simple-minded; it is a guiding philosophy for the mindful, intelligent few who are wise enough to seek out -- and recognize -- the higher simplicities of truly purposeful living." - Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, editor of NaturalNews.com	More on NaturalNews.com: • Streaming Health Ranger Videos • CounterThink Cartoons • FREE Special Reports • Podcasts