Friends Mean a Lot to Us

朋友对我们很重要

Most of the research on health and relationships is focused on romantic partners. But researchers have found that our friendships actually have a bigger impact on our health.

大多数针对健康和人际关系的研究都聚焦于爱情伴侣，但研究人员发现友情对人的健康其实有更大的影响。

Here are two of the findings about the health benefits of having friends:

下面有两条研究，是关于朋友带来的益处。

A 10-year Australian study found that older people with a large circle of friends were 22 percent less likely to die during the study period than those with fewer friends.

澳大利亚开展的一项长达十年的调查发现，在这十年中，朋友圈子大的老人死亡风险比朋友较少的人低22%。

In 2006, a study of nearly 3,000 nurses with breast cancer found that women without close friends were four times as likely to die from the disease as women with 10 or more friends.

2006年，一项针对约3000名患乳腺癌护士的研究发现，比起拥有十个或以上朋友的患者，没有亲密朋友的患者面临的死亡风险高了三倍。

Why are friendships so good for us? Scientists have a few theories.

为什么友谊对我们有这些好处呢？科学家做了些猜想。

Logistical support（后勤保障）: Friends can run errands（跑腿）and pick up medicine for a sick person, although in most studies, proximity（邻近） was not a factor in the benefits of friendship.

日常性支持：如果你生病了，朋友可以为你跑腿买药，尽管在大多数研究中，距离邻近不是构成友谊好处的因素。

Association: It may be that people with strong social ties also have better access to health services and care or are more likely to seek help.

社会联系：与社会联系紧密的人更能得到医疗服务和护理，更能寻求到帮助。

Less stress: People with strong friendships are less likely than others to get colds, perhaps because they have lower stress levels.

压力更小：有亲密朋友的人比其他人更少患感冒，可能是因为他们压力更小。

While we need to remember that friendships undergo a natural churn（自然的转变）as our lives change, some friendships end simply because we have neglected them.

然而我们该知道随着生活的变化，友谊也会经历自然的转变。与某些人的友谊断绝，只是因为我们过去忽略了那些朋友。

Of course, great friendships can often weather these highs and lows, but imagine how much better those connections would be if we gave our friendships the regular care and feeding they need.

当然，坚固的友谊能经受住风风雨雨，但试想一下，如果我们对朋友经常表达关心，了解他们的需求，那么你与他们的关系会变得多么紧密。

Just as you might schedule a date night or a business meeting, it‘s important to build friendship maintenance（维护友谊）into your weekly schedule.

正如你会安排时间与恋人约会、参加工作会议一样，把维护友谊写进日程里也很重要。

If your home life will allow it, give yourself a friends‘ night out once or twice a month, rotating（轮流） the friends with whom you spend time.

如果你的家庭生活允许，一个月花一两晚跟朋友出去玩，跟他们轮流着来。

When life gets hectic（繁忙的） because of parenting or work demands, your friendships tend to be the first to suffer.

因照顾孩子或工作需要，生活变得忙碌起来时，友情往往首当其冲受到影响。

But if you schedule friend dates regularly, your friendships will stay strong no matter what challenges are ahead.

但如果你经常安排时间与朋友相聚，那么无论遇到什么挑战，你们的友谊都会很坚固。

Indeed, a close friend may bring more emotional support than you have thought.

其实，亲密的朋友带给你的情感支持比你以为的要多。