Many of us value our friends even more than we value our most prized possessions, and why shouldn’t we? Our friends are there for us when we’re feeling blue, our friends are there to praise us when we’ve accomplished something, and our friends are there to hold our head as we get sick from too much alcohol. Friends are fabulous!
Still, friendship is much more than just sharing the good and the bad, friendship holds some very important emotional and physical elements as well. It’s not only important to have friends, but it’s also absolutely imperative to a healthy life that you have friends. Here are some fun facts about friends that you can post on your BFF’s Facebook page!
1. People with friends are healthier
People with close friends are healthier than those who don’t have them. If you have close friends you experience less pain, you’re much less depressed, and you’re a happier person. Friendship not only gives you a longer life but also a happier life.
2. You only really have 33 friends at a time
You might know a lot of people, and you might remember a lot of friends from your past, but scientifically speaking, you really only have a total of thirty-three actual friends at any given time.
Friends come and go throughout life, but thirty-three is the magic number.
3. You see your very best friend an average of once every eight weeks
Okay, it might seem like you’re always chatting with your BFF on the phone, or sending secret texts while you’re in an office meeting at work, but we really don’t actually see our best friends very often. In fact, on average, we see our very best friend about once every eight weeks. That makes sense, because if you’re always chatting and texting there really isn’t much reason to visit.
4. Only five percent of your friends know your real life story
I bet you didn’t realize how secretive you really were, or that your friend doesn’t really tell you everything! That’s right, only five percent of your friends know your entire life story. Only five percent of all the friends you will ever have in your lifetime will know the “real” you.
They’re the only ones who will know about your childhood, they’re the only ones who will understand why you hate anything green, and they’re the only ones who know those deep dark secrets you have been trying so hard to hide. That’s a pretty small percentage of trust, don’t you think?
5. Marriages between best friends last the longest
If you want a marriage that will last, marry your best friend! Here’s the truth…romantic love lasts only about a year and a half (because you can’t feel that crazy for the rest of your life), so after the intensity has diminished what you have left is comfort. It’s the comfort that lasts for the rest of your life.
Plus, you need to be able to talk to the one you’re with, and best friends talk A LOT! Oh, and it’s been proven that best friends will have less serious arguments because they know how to make each other laugh and lighten up the situation. There’s also more trust in a marriage between friends.
That dorky guy you grew up with might just be the one you SHOULD marry!
6. Not having close friends is as bad for you as smoking
You gave up smoking, but you’re still just as unhealthy if you don’t have a friend. Go get yourself one. Facebook is a good place to start. Meetup.com is also a good place to start (no, it’s not a dating site). Making friends is much more difficult when you’re older because you don’t have the social clicks of high school, so you really have to be a little more creative and willing to get out there.
7. You will have 396 friends in your lifetime
Friends will come and friends will go…but you’ll have had about four hundred friends throughout your entire life. Remember, though, you’ll only have about thirty three at any given time.
8. Men spend an average of ten hours a week with their friends
You know, it might feel like you’re man is hanging out with his bros constantly, but it really is only about ten hours a week. That’s about a full Sunday afternoon, which isn’t really too bad. I mean, it gets him out of your hair for the day, right? Even if you don’t like his friends, remember that it’s healthier for him to have them.
9. Women spend an average of seven and a half hours a week with their friends
This fact genuinely surprised me…until I gave it more thought. We might see our ladies at work, but just hanging out…women rarely have as much time for that as men do apparently. Of course, for the most part that’s because we cook and clean and take care of the kids and have to skip the occasional girl’s night out because of (our very much loved) familial responsibilities.
It’s cool, though; we have our cell phones and know how to put those to good use!
10. Half of your friends are there because of favors you’ve done for them
What, did you think you were cool? So did I. We were both wrong. Most of our friends are our friends because of the favors we have done for them. The more giving you are the more friends you will have (obviously), but you probably didn’t expect that to be an actual scientifically proven fact, did you? I didn’t either.
So there you have it, ladies. The next time you’re hanging out with your peeps, keep these fun friendship facts in mind. Also, just out of curiosity, count how many friends you have contacted on Facebook or how many friends you’ve texted this week and let us know what the number is. Is it thirty three?
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