For the study, researchers used male rats and housed them in the same cage, and they demonstrated that mild stress can actually make male rats more social and cooperative than they are in an unstressed environment, much like humans come together after non-life-threatening events such as a national tragedy. After the rats experienced mild stress, the rats showed increased brain levels of oxytocin and they huddled and touched more.
BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 08: 74th ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS — Pictured: (l-r) Actors Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna arrive to the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 8, 2017. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/NBCUniversal/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
“A bromance can be a good thing,” said lead author Elizabeth Kirby, who started work on the study while a doctoral student at UC Berkeley and continued it after assuming a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford. “Males are getting a bad rap when you look at animal models of social interactions, because they are assumed to be instinctively aggressive. But even rats can have a good cuddle – essentially a male-male bromance – to help recover from a bad day.”
“Having friends is not un-masculine,” she added. “These rats are using their rat friendships to recover from what would otherwise be a negative experience. If rats can do it, men can do it too.”
So there you have it. There’s are definitely health benefits to having a best friend, and probably the same thing goes for women. Friendships are very important to your well-being, so make a call and catch up with your bff.
