Friends are ‘better than morphine

Friends rally round you at your lowest points and share your highs and now research has found they could be having a profound effect on how you experience pain too.

Researchers have discovered that people with more friends have a higher tolerance for pain.

Friendships boost endorphins in the body and these are well known for acting as our body’s natural painkillers.

In particular, endorphins are part of our pain and pleasure circuitry and previous studies have suggested endorphins promote social bonding in both humans and other animals.

One theory, known as ‘the brain opioid theory of social attachment’, is that social interactions trigger positive emotions when endorphin binds to opioid receptors in the brain

This gives us that feel-good factor that we get from seeing our friends.

To test this theory, the researchers relied on the fact that endorphin has a powerful pain-killing effect – stronger even than morphine.

The researchers therefore used pain tolerance as a way to assess the brain’s endorphin activity.

If the theory was correct, people with larger social networks would have higher pain tolerance, and this was what their study found.

Katerina Johnson, a doctoral student said: ‘These results are also interesting because recent research suggests that the endorphin system may be disrupted in psychological disorders such as depression,’ said Johnson.

‘This may be part of the reason why depressed people often suffer from a lack of pleasure and become socially withdrawn.’

Both fitter people and those with higher reported stress levels tended to have smaller social networks.

Katerina explained: ‘It may simply be a question of time – individuals that spend more time exercising have less time to see their friends. ‘However, there may be a more interesting explanation, since both physical and social activities promote endorphin release, perhaps some people use exercise as an alternative means to get their ‘endorphin rush’ rather than socialising.’

‘Studies suggest the quantity and quality of our social relationships affect our physical and mental health and may even be a factor determining how long we live,’ continued Johnson.

‘As a species, we’ve evolved to thrive in a rich social environment but in this digital era, deficiencies in our social interactions may be one of the overlooked factors contributing to the declining health of our modern society.’

Source: Daily mail

Nada Haj khider