One of the greatest parts of being human is our connections with those around us. Our children, spouses, family, friends, mentors, and colleagues can bring us untold joy, love, laughter, and support on a daily basis. Let’s explore four advantages that come with nurturing healthy relationships in your life:
A Healthier You
Scientists are continuously investigating the connection between personal health and the state of meaningful personal relationships. It has been found that healthy connections with other people help to discharge damaging levels of stress. If the discharge of stress is not done through healthy human connections the stress levels can affect insulin regulation, the immune system, and can affect the coronary arteries, which can eventually lead to heart disease. What does this ultimately mean? Relationships are healthy, or rather that healthy relationships are healthy.
Happiness through Helping Others
A relationship does not have to be defined as a traditional marriage or even by having a significant other. We have relationships with our neighbours, our mentors, our hockey teammates – all the people we interact with on a regular basis. Studies have identified that offers of help or offering of advice have life-enhancing effects for the receiver as well as for the giver. The message is, it feels good to do good things. Next time you are at the coffee shop, pay for the next person in line’s coffee and start both of your days off on a happy note.
Stress Relief
Having a healthy relationship allows you to unload some of the stress of your day in a cleansing manner. If you allow stress to build up, the end effects can be an explosion on an unsuspecting innocent person that will leave both parties feeling upset and low. A healthy relationship is one that has the ability to take a dose of stress releasing venting from the other party and accept it at face value. Stress can also present itself in many other more serious, harmful ways, not just verbal outbursts. Always remember that stress relief is a two-way street, you must be able to accept a reciprocated fallout of a stressful day.
Guaranteed Dependability
It has been tested and proven that people who are happily married recover better after surgery. This could heavily weigh on the fact that a caregiver is guaranteed. By having an existing relationship based on love, care, and respect you do not need to seek out someone to nurse you back to health.
All of this is reassuring news because healthy relationships with others may be one of the easiest healthy living strategies to access. It’s inexpensive, it requires no special equipment or routine, and we can engage in basic kind human behaviour in many ways.
