Friends Benefits

This makes perfect sense to me. I wonder what impact Facebook will have on this dynamic.

Get 'em, keep 'em, and hold 'em close.

From the NYT...

Researchers are only now starting to pay attention to the importance of friendship and social networks in overall health.

An 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. A large 2007 study showed an increase of nearly 60 percent in the risk for obesity among people whose friends gained weight.

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. And notably, proximity and the amount of contact with a friend wasn’t associated with survival. Just having friends was protective.