Importance of Friendships

My college roommate(these are pics from SIU-Carbondale from Ron Palmer) and her three kids are headed to my house tomorrow! I haven't seen her in three years! It got me thinking how hard it is to stay in touch with friends when you have little kids. I think it's so important to keep those friendships, but I barely have time to take a shower and eat these days-much less chat on the phone. Maybe there should be some sort of rule about going on a weekend trip with your girlfriends each summer. Hmmm... I want to know if I am the only one who doesn't make time for things like that or is my situation the norm? Either way, I am so excited! When is that last time you saw your friends from college/high school?

I looked for a picture of us from college, but I don't have anything digital. Remember when we all used film? Yep, I feel old!

And I found this UCLA article that says womens' friendships are super duper important. So I think I will have to get a babysitter more often!

A landmark UCLA study suggests friendships between women are special. They shape who we are and who we are yet to be. They soothe our tumultuous inner world, fill the emotional gaps in our marriage, and help us remember who we really are. By the way, they may do even more.

Scientists now suspect that hanging out with our friends can actually counteract the kind of stomach-quivering stress most of us experience on a daily basis. A landmark UCLA study suggests that women respond to stress with a cascade of brain chemicals that cause us to make and maintain friendships with other women. It's a stunning find that has turned five decades of stress research---most of it on men---upside down. Until this study was published, scientists generally believed that when people experience stress, they trigger a hormonal cascade that revs the body to either stand and fight or flee as fast as possible, explains Laura Cousin Klein, Ph.D., now an Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health at Penn State University and one of the study's authors. It's an ancient survival mechanism left over from the time we were chased across the planet by saber-toothed tigers.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Are you having an acne emergency? Soderstrom Skin Institute can help. We treat acne seriously and in most cases will see you within a week. Evening and Saturday appointments are available. Call 309-674-SKIN and make your appointment today.