“There are many different ways to cope with stress. We know from a lot of different studies that having close personal relationships—people with whom you can talk, with whom you can share your feelings—can be helpful,” says Kiecolt-Glaser. “So spending time with family and friends in order to maintain those relationships is perhaps one of the most crucial things you can do as a stress reducer.”
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Longevity Tip ~ Don’t Be Shy – Connect
The studies are in. An active social life is associated with faster rebound in the face of stress. It’s also linked to a longer life and a greater sense of wellbeing. So how do you reap the benefits of a good social life? First, focus on the people who mean the most to you. Quality trumps quantity. So reach out to your healthy supports — your closest family and friends — on the regular. Then, expand your social world. Faith groups, volunteer organizations and hobby groups are all ways to make new connections
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Healthy Living ~ Invite a Friend for Lunch or Coffee
Strong, healthy relationships are important throughout your life. Your social ties with family members, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and others impact your mental, emotional, and even physical well-being.“We can’t underestimate the power of a relationship in helping to promote well-being,” says NIH psychologist and relationship expert Dr. Valerie Maholmes. Studies have found that having a variety of social relationships may help reduce stress and heart-related risks. Strong social ties are even linked to a longer life. On the other hand, loneliness and social isolation are linked to poorer health, depression, and increased risk of early death.
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Today’s Reflection ~ Relationships
Relationships are based on four principles: respect, understanding, acceptance and appreciation. ~ Gandhi
Mending Wall ~ Robert Frost
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
‘Stay where you are until our backs are turned!’
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
‘Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.’ I could say ‘Elves’ to him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’
Wellness Tip ~ Connect, Connect, Connect
a\A strong group of confidants is a health booster — no medication required. “Having a reliable support system goes a long way to decrease stress in our lives, and less stress means that we are happier and healthier overall. . . . Those stressful, drama-filled relationships (you know the ones) can end up working against you and hurt your health, well-being, especially if you turn to unhealthy habits like junk-food binges or drugs and alcohol to cope. [Watch out] your friends bad habits might rub off on you. So mom was right: Choose your friends wisely.
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Longevity Tip ~ Make Connections
Meet a friend for coffee, check out that photography class, or FaceTime with your grandkids. “Investing in meaningful relationships is one of the most important things we can do to increase our health, quality of life, and wellbeing,” Dr. Kaiser says. One big reason why? Social wellbeing is tied to lower levels of interleukin-6, an inflammatory factor involved in chronic diseases like Alzheimer’s, heart disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, and some cancers, according to the National Institute on Aging (NIA).
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Longevity Tip ~ Relationships
FIND YOUR HAPPY PLACE.
Stress and relationships are a major driver of real age. Major stressors can add six years to your real age, but handling stress well and having a strong support system can help reduce your age by five years. The most important social factors for your real age including: Having someone you can talk to about private matters or for help. Having a strong relationship with your spouse or partner. Participating in group activities, such as religious services or social groups
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Longevity Tip
Mounting evidence consistently demonstrates the relationship between social engagement and higher levels of physical, mental, and cognitive functioning and its association with longer life spans. By contrast, socially isolated individuals face health risks comparable to those of smokers.
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Longevity Tip
Rafaella Monne, a 107-year-old from Sardinia said it best: “Life is short. Don’t run so fast you miss it.” Slowing life’s pace may help keep inflammation in check, and apart from its health benefits, it adds richness to life.
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