Just What the Doctor Ordered

When I offer women a chance to relax, unwind, and come together in fellowship and fun, I often hear, “Oh, I’m too busy to host a fun girl’s night out! But thanks for asking anyway.” What they don’t realize is that I’m offering exactly what they need in their busy and hectic lives.

You see, as women, we tend to over-commit, over-indulge, take care of everyone before ourselves, and multi-task to the point of fatigue. We owe it to ourselves to unplug, unwind and reconnect with each other in a supportive and nurturing atmosphere. After all, that’s how we’re wired, and to go against it can truly impact our health.

In addition to selling fabulous .925 sterling silver, I’m a wife, mother, attorney, and a doctor (Ph.D.)/professor, so I not only know what it means to be busy, but I also know the importance of social gatherings to a woman’s well-being!

And the Doctor Said...
Consider this story: In an evening class at Stanford, the last lecture was on the mind-body connection - the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of Psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman, whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends. At first everyone laughed, but he was serious.

Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically, this quality “girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin: a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well-being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings? Rarely.

Women do it all the time. We share from our souls with our sisters, friends and mothers, and evidently that is very good for our health. The Stanford professor said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.

There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged—not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking!

How This Applies to YOU
So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky.

Let’s toast to our girl-friendships and have a fun night “in!” Evidently it’s good for our health. And the next time someone asks you to gather some friends for a fun girls’ night playing dress up with jewelry, consider this story and say YES!

--Carol

You can contact Carol at carol.parkerwalsh@gmail.com