Going on trips with the girls bring out the excitement and the party animal in you that you haven’t been able to let out for quite some time. You feel young, you flourish, you’re confident, relaxed and overall thrilled to be doing something out of the norm.
Plus, if there’s an occasion or a reason for the girls trip (like one of your girls going through a bad breakup, or you’re all simply in a funk), you are that much more eager to go out and have the time of your life. You’re unstoppable and at the peak of your happiness.
But turns out girls trips are more beneficial than we thought.
As if you needed another reason to grab your girlfriends and pack your bags for a getaway, science just confirmed another one! And if science approves of this message then clearly it’s great and we should all be following it. Right?!
The newest research confirmed that taking a vacation with your girlfriends can benefit your mental and physical wellbeing.
How is that possible?
Well, friendships extend our life expectancy, cut the risk of heart disease (so does red wine, which you know you’ll be indulging in) and can help us tolerate pain. Plus, if you’re spending plenty of time with your friends, it increases the amount of oxytocin that’s produced in our bodies Oxytocin is that feel-good hormone you also experience after sex!
Harvard researchers say, “social connections like these not only give us pleasure, they also influence our long term health as powerfully as adequate sleep, a good diet and not smoking.”
The study from Harvard looked at data from 309,000 people where a lack of strong social connections increased the risk of premature death by up to 50%! This piggybacks off of previous studies that proved those without close girlfriends are more likely to experience depression, cognitive decline and have a shorter life.
So basically what this study means to me is that we need to take advantage of our friendships while we can and make memories together. There doesn’t even need to be a reason to splurge, like a break-up or bachelorette party. You should just do it to celebrate you and your friends as well as encourage stronger friendships with each other.
Additionally, the older you get the harder it is to maintain our friendships. So if you are able to plan a week’s vacation to Mexico or a weekend trip to a small town, you should do it! It will increase your happiness levels and reduce the daily stress we experience in the real world.
So if you need any more reasons to go out and have a blast with your girl gang, now you can say, “well, science says so.” Grab the rosé and an overnight bag – you’ll need it really soon!
Featured photo via Unsplash
