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Friendships Keep You Sane
Sure, chatting with our best friends or catching up with our relatives energizes us and feels good, but it could have a health benefit as well. A new study shows that older women who maintain friendships and family connections are less likely to develop a dementia health diagnosis than women who have few social ties. In fact, the women with more social contacts were about 26% less likely to develop dementia than the women with fewer contacts.
The study adds to other research that has shown adults who live alone or who have no close relationships are at an increased risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease compared to sociable adults.
What is about connecting with the ones you love that seems to protect our minds? Could it be that without these interactions our minds tend to lose sense of reality—sort of a “use it or lose it” mentality? When was the last time you spoke to your parent/child or best friend? [WebMD]