Similarly, the Mom2Mom helpline offers advice and resources to and from moms (or other parents/guardians) of children with special needs. For instance, the nonprofit organization “ Moms Helping Moms” distributes gently-used baby items from families who no longer need them to low-income families who can’t afford baby necessities on their own. “Receiving tried and true information about foraging, survival, and child rearing-as well as numerous other activities-may have been a major benefit to having older friends.” While the idea of having someone else help you parent may sound a little strange at first, there are plenty of examples of this still happening today. “Females are also known to engage in cooperative rearing of offspring (alloparenting),” explains Krems. It can also be a godsend to mothers, proving the old phrase: “It takes a village to raise a child.” READ MORE: Emily Ratajkowski Won’t Stand for Slut-Shaming of Any Woman, Not Even Melania Trumpīefriending other women, though, does more than just protect your reputation. In other words? You really can make a difference in changing a “catty” female environment. For instance, researchers found that, when a woman has just one ally in her office, the negative gossip about that woman is significantly reduced. This warfare is the exact opposite of “women supporting women” – however, Hess and Hagen’s study has its helpful points. Krems also points to work by Nicole Hess and Ed Hagen, who discovered that women often use “information warfare” (what you might recall as cruel high school gossip) to fight for resources (ranging from mates to social status).
Basically, the more friends you have, the more “in the know” you’ll be….which could keep you from making a faux pas like asking Andrea how her husband is doing when everyone else knows they’re getting a divorce. However, these friendship groups can help women “better process information about their social networks more adeptly navigate their social landscape,” according to Krems. When you think of social groups and women, you may start having flashbacks of Mean Girls and high school cliques – and you wouldn’t be wrong. Jaimie Krems agrees that female support can improve female health, adding that, in non-human primates, “having a few close female friends has been shown to increase a female’s chances of having longer-surviving offspring.” While studies have not illustrated the same effects in humans, Krems wouldn’t be surprised.įrom the studies and research found so far, it seems like women’s evolutionary tendency to bond is just as strong as it was in our ancestors – and those bonds are still helping improve women’s physical health, and possibly that of their children.
Men in the newly free countries in Eastern Europe experienced significant decreases in their life expectancy, with the male death rate in the former East Germany rising by 40 percent! Yet, Shelley E. One real life example of Levancuka’s claim occurred after the Soviet Union collapsed. READ MORE: Want to Live a Longer, Happier Life? Make Younger Friends Why does this evolutionary programming even matter? To put it simply: “Female friendships not only help reduce stress, but they also extend our lifespans and reduce the likelihood of physical problems upon aging,” according to Levancuka. (And you thought you were the only one who phones a girlfriend during a bad day!) She points to a landmark UCLA study that discovered “women respond to stress with a cascade of brain chemicals that cause us to make and maintain friendships with other women.” Basically, instead of experiencing the “fight or flight” reaction to stress, women experience “tend or befriend” thanks to a flood of oxytocin. “Creating and maintaining good quality social connections is actually as good for our physical health as regular exercise,” says Olga Levancuka.
If you want to keep your body fit and healthy as you age, you need to make female friends. Here are all the expert-backed ways supporting other women can transform your physical, social and emotional health! Physical