For many, nurturing our friendships and relationships are far down the to-do list. Work, responsibilities and life in general have become excuses to de-emphasize spending time with others — which is bananas, y’all. Our social ties are HUGELY important to our health and life longevity. Did you know having strong bonds helps us live longer? Here are a few more tid bits to chew on this AM.

1.// The same genes that are impacted by social connection also code for immune function. So as you strengthen your social ties, your immune system gets stronger too. 💪

2.// The parts of the brain that are activated during social rejection are also activated during physical pain.

3.// The size of our brains, alone, indicates that we’re wired for friendship. The strongest predictor of a species’ brain size is the size of its social group. As humans, our brains are actually considered “too large” relative to our body size. Scientists have debated why, but the research is conclusive: we have big brains in order to socialize.

4.// Social relationships improve survival. A meta-study covering 308,849 participants across all ages revealed that the individuals with solid social networks had a 50% boost in longevity.

5.// Chronic loneliness is a greater risk factor for morbidity than cigarette smoking.

6.// Social support has been linked to lower blood pressure and improved bodily processes such as wound healing and inflammation.

7.// Every time your brain is not engaged in an active task (even for just a second), the brain falls into a neural configuration that tells us to “go social.” Instead of just chilling, our brain wanders to things like making sense of others, their minds, their thoughts, feelings and goals.

8.// It’s a basic instinct to crave love and connection. Neuroscience and evolution say that valuing material things over relationships actually goes against our nature.

Now go call a friend and make a play date.💃 💃

#morningmischief