Your friends could be helping your health. Having a support system present in your life can do wonders for your health both physically and mentally. “Ever since researchers began to make links between loneliness and poor health about 25 years ago, the scientific literature on the value of friendship has exploded. Today, the data make a convincing case: Having people who care about us is good for us. In a 2010 meta-analysis…researchers found a strong connection between social relationships and life span. The size of the effect rivaled that of better-known health-related behaviors such as smoking and exercise…in a 2015 analysis…[researchers] found that the absence of social connections carried the same health risk as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.” Many related studies, compiled over several decades, have shown that good relationships can benefit us in a variety of ways.