Friends: Life Support
Facing a barrage of major stressors like getting fired or divorced can permanently alter the cardiovascular system. But whether you face the risk of heart disease down the road may be a matter of who your friends are.
The more pals you have, the better you're protected from illness, one study indicates. "There's good support for a link between people's cardiovascular responses to stress and risk of disease," says psychologist Mark Roy. Roy is referring not to daily hassles, like minor arguments or waiting in line, but major life events involving big changes, like mourning the loss of a loved one or relocating. Too many over time may raise your blood pressure, setting the stage for heart disease.
Roy and his team wanted to see whether people with greater social support were more resilient to such shocks. He put a group of firefighters through arithmetic and speech tasks, measuring their blood pressure between each trial, and asked them how many people they claimed as close friends. Men facing a large number of stressful life events showed more reactivity between tasks—meaning that their blood pressure soared higher—than those with fewer such events. But having a strong network speeded their recovery from the rise in blood pressure, as if protecting against its damaging effects.
Rising blood pressure isn't always harmful; it surges when we exercise. The body's dramatic response to tensions may not be as risky as how well it recovers—something that relies on a little help from your friends.