Being with your best friend cuts stress level: Study

Researchers at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Centre in the US found that the presence of a best friend helped buffered the physical effects of a negative experience in children.

"One of the interesting things about these findings is that it's not just any friend -- it's the best friend," lead researcher Ryan Adams was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

For their study, the researchers asked about a hundred children aged ten to 12 to fill out a diary five times a day for four school days, and rate how they felt about what they'd experienced in the past 20 minutes.

They were also asked whether they'd been alone or with parents, siblings, a best friend, a boy or girl friend, classmates, strangers, teachers or some other person.
And they had saliva samples take to measure for the stress hormone cortisol.

It was found that the presence of a best friend, more than anyone else, buffered the physical effects of a negative experience, so the child produced less cortisol.
According to researchers, friends are key to our social and emotional lives. And cortisol levels shot up if there's no friend around during stressful times, they said.

Although the study only looked at children, experts said its findings are likely to apply to adults too. Dr Karen Majors, a psychologist with Barking and Dagenham Community Educational Psychology Service, said: "A child's close friends can be problematic and lead them astray, but they can also be incredibly positive and supportive.
"Friendships serve really important purposes socially, emotionally and cognitively as well as being a playmate and companion. For example, previous research shows if you transfer school with friends you know, it bodes well for making new friends."