Why Mom-to-Mom Friendships Are Healthier Than You Think

We've all heard the stress-management strategies and techniques that everyone's ready to dish out: exercise, get enough sleep, breathe deeply ... the list goes on. Yet here we are, denying ourselves the most effective stress-management "tool" (if you want to call it that!) available: our relationships with our friends. If we could only set aside time constraints and humor our innermost desires, an entire body of new research indicates that friendship will actually help us stay healthier and live longer! Not to mention be happier. Friends are the pillar of our sense of self-worth and self-esteem. They lend a loving, sympathetic ear to our cares and worries. They air their grievances with us and consult us on their childrearing challenges. They'll share our meals, laugh at our jokes, dispense a hug, a smile, a tear. And more often than not, they are the people we neglect the most, the ones with whom we associate the most guilt when we spend one-on-one time.

So if you're still aching for a real gabfest and haven't already cancelled your date, reach for that phone. You and your friends truly are "friends in need."