MAKING NEW FRIENDS at any age

Broadening your social circle has huge health benefits. Here's how to get out there again!

- Amber Bramble, Nicole Webb.

Leading a healthy lifestyle is about more than what you eat or how much exercise you get. One of the single best things that you can do for your well-being is to spend lots of time with friends!

As we get older, making new friends can also become more challenging. However, that doesn’t mean that you should give up.

“Having friends greatly enhances both physical and mental health. In fact, only smoking cessation has a bigger positive effect on health than friendships,” says psychologist Gordon Spence.

Not only do friends give you emotional support when you need it, social bonding can also trigger feel-good endorphins and even bolster our immune system. As we head into retirement, our social network becomes even more important.