spending quality time with friends essay

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Why It’s Important to Spend More Time with Friends and Family

Productivity 10/22/2019

While alone time is important for creativity and inspiration, spending quality time with friends and family is just as important.

Research shows that spending time with friends and family makes a big difference when it comes to happiness. Social time is especially important for happiness, even for introverts. Studies have proven that the amount of time spent with friends and family goes a long way towards boosting happiness – even more so than an increased income!  

Spending time with family and friends can even help you cope with stress. As Harvard happiness expert, Daniel Gilbert explains : “We are happy when we have family, we are happy when we have friends and almost all the other things we think make us happy are actually just ways of getting more family and friends.” So while money can’t buy you happiness, spending time with the ones you love, is always a good investment!

Spend Time with Family

Spending time with family is one of the best ways to create memorable experiences. Nothing can replace the time you spend with your family. This is especially true if you have children. With younger children, there’s a good chance that you already spend a lot of time with them. With older children and teenagers who may prefer to spend time with their friends, it can be more difficult to carve out family time.

If you don’t know where to start, consider starting small: dinner at the table or a board game in the evening. If games aren’t your family’s idea of a good time, try outside activities – perhaps a walk to the park. Even projects around the house can be a great way to get everyone involved and working towards a goal. Encourage your family to spend time together by looking out for opportunities to do things that everyone would be interested in. It may be a challenge at first, but soon it will become second nature.

Spend Time with Friends

As we get older and life gets faster, the time we once had for our friends seems to diminish. You might not notice it at first, but soon your coffee dates are being replaced by school meetings. Your carefree mornings are busy and rushed, and the phone calls you used to make daily to chat with your best friend are slowly turning into every other week (or month!) catch-up calls. Fitting in time for friends is sadly one of the first things to go when life gets busy, and before you know it – you hardly know the person you used to call your best friend.

This fact is though, that while this is tragic, it’s also preventable! Spending time with friends is one of the few pleasures in life that can cost you very little, but reward you substantially. It is also proven to be one of the best ways to combat stress. Spending time with your friends can help melt away the cares of the world and leave you a better person all around.

Carve out time for your friends, by scheduling it in. One way to do this successfully is to find common goals you both might have and spend your time together working on reaching those goals – accomplishing two things at the same time and making it easier to find time to spend with friends. An example would be working out together, walking the pets together, trying new things together, or scheduling the kids’ play dates with each other. You could also look out for special occasions to spend time with each other. These events don’t have to be huge social events. It could be as simple as inviting friends over to watch the Super Bowl or having your spouse look after the kids so you can go out for coffee.

Additional Benefits of Spending Time With Friends and Family

Some health benefits of maintaining a healthy quality time with your friends and family include:  

Spending time with family and friends relieves stress: According to a study by Carnegie Mellon University, individuals who spend more time with family and friends tend to have better coping mechanisms when it comes to handling stress . They tend to use their social group as a stress buffer, allowing them to communicate their stress instead of seeking negative coping mechanisms like alcohol and tobacco. 

Helps your overall well-being: Social groups provide emotional support, which helps you feel better about yourself. In fact, people who view their friends and family as supportive tend to have a greater feeling of meaning in life and a stronger sense of purpose than those who did not.

It’s great for heart health: Stress can encourage the development of inflammation in the arteries, which is a precursor to clogged arteries. A study found that when individuals have the support of family and friends, they actually have a lower pulse and blood pressure which, in time, helps to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. 

Now go call a friend or family member!

Spending more time with your friends and family is beneficial to your mental wellbeing, as well as your relationships. With friends and family, your good times are better, and your sorrows are shared – so don’t overlook this important area in life!

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6 Benefits of Friendship and Why It's So Important to Stay Close

Invest in your besties

Arlin Cuncic, MA, is the author of The Anxiety Workbook and founder of the website About Social Anxiety. She has a Master's degree in clinical psychology.

Verywell / Joshua Seong

• Physical Health
• Healthy Behaviors
• Emotional Support
• Confidence Building
• Stress Reduction

Friends Help You Cultivate Community

Frequently asked questions.

In an age where many of us feel lonelier and more disconnected than ever —despite being chronically online—it's never been more important to invest extra energy into our friendships. Platonic relationships are sometimes overlooked in our quest for romantic ones, but friendship is just as important to our psychological well-being.

Friendships can enrich your life in countless ways. Good friends teach you about yourself and challenge you to be better. They encourage you to keep going when times get tough and celebrate your successes with you. They help you build community.

At a Glance

Friends do a lot more than give you a shoulder to cry on; they also positively impact your health. Some research even says friendships are as important to your well-being as eating right and exercising. Friendships help you stay healthier (physically and mentally). They encourage you to stick to healthy behaviors (and avoid unhealthy ones). They also provide emotional support in tough times and create a buffer against stress. The sense of community they provide also helps you to feel more connected to your greater community. So cultivate those close friendships! It turns out that your besties help you stay healthier, happier, and less stressed.

Friends Are Good for Your Physical Health

It turns out that healthy relationships actually contribute to good physical health. Having a close circle of friends can decrease your risk of health problems like diabetes, heart attack, and stroke.

Having strong social ties can also decrease feelings of loneliness , which evidence shows can take a toll on your longevity. One study found that the risk of mortality increased by a whopping 91% among socially isolated people. A 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis found that social isolation increased the risk of mortality from all causes.

Social isolation and loneliness are linked to a variety of health issues such as high blood pressure, substance abuse, heart disease, and even cancer.

Friends Encourage Healthy Behaviors

One possible explanation for those health benefits is that friendships can help you make lifestyle changes that can have a direct impact on your well-being. For example, your friends can help you set and maintain goals to eat better and exercise more.   They can also watch out for you and give a heads-up when any unhealthy behaviors (like drinking too much ) get out of hand.

Additionally, people are more motivated and likely to stick to a weight loss or exercise program when they do it with a buddy. It's much easier to get out and stay active when you have a friend by your side.

That friend may also suggest activities that you would not have considered on your own—thus, pushing you outside your comfort zone to challenge your anxiety.

Friends Provide Emotional Support

If you find yourself going through a hard time, having a friend to help you through can make the transition easier. Emotional support involves offering comfort and empathy .

For example, friends can listen without judging, validate your feelings, and offer words of comfort. They can also just be physically present with you when you are going through something tough, which can be a *huge* comfort. By checking in and standing by you, they help you feel less alone.

Research also shows that happiness is contagious among friends. One study of high school students found that those who were depressed were twice as likely to recover if they had happy friends. Likewise, kids were half as likely to develop depression if their friends had a "healthy mood."

Friends Help Build Your Confidence

Everyone has self-doubts and insecurities every now and then. But having friends who support you plays a big role in building your self-esteem . When people around you provide validation, it impacts your ability to love and appreciate yourself.

Supportive friends can help you feel more confident by offering praise and reassurance when you're feeling unsure. They'll shine a light on just how amazing you are and how much you have to offer others.

Friends Help You Beat Stress

Everyone goes through stressful events. If you know you have people you can count on, you may be less likely even to perceive a tough time as stressful. 

Spending time with friends can also help reduce stress . According to Harvard Medical School, "social connections help relieve levels of stress, which can harm the heart's arteries, gut function, insulin regulation, and the immune system."

Friends can also help you cope with stressful situations.

Research suggests that when children hang out with their friends during a stressful situation, they produce less cortisol, a hormone released when the body is under stress. Kids who talk to a good friend after a negative experience also return to a relaxed state more quickly than those who do not.

Other research has shown that teens who have higher levels of perceived social support have lower cortisol responses to stress. They also have lower neural activity in the areas of the brain that are often associated with the social distress people experience when they are socially excluded.

As the song goes: "We all need somebody to lean on."

A lack of friends can leave you feeling lonely and without support, which makes you vulnerable to other problems such as depression and substance abuse.

While we might all be pretty good at building online communities, our in person ones are seriously lacking. When we invest the energy in our friendships, and then encourage our friends to be friends with each other it fosters a sense of community.

A healthy community can help us feel more at home in our towns and cities When we're out and about and we see people we know—at the grocery store, at a local cafe, etc—it lets us know that we are part of something bigger and that we belong.

Research has found that a sense of community is associated with decreased symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression.

Friends Push You To Be Your Best

Ever heard some version of the phrase, "you are the average of the people you spend your time with"? The people we're friends with have the power to influence our own values and character.

When you prioritize friendships with people who are generous with their time, help others, or are ambitious or family-oriented, you are more likely to develop those values yourself.

Great friends have the power to mold you into the best version of yourself. They see you and love you for who you truly are. They encourage you and push you to do better and be the person you want to be—your "ideal self."

The social support that friendships provide is vital to mental health and well-being. Unfortunately, reports suggest that loneliness is at an all-time high. According to one survey, 27% of millennials report having no close friends.

The good news is that quality is more important than quality. If you want to build a stronger support network or strengthen your current friendships, reach out to the people in your life. Friendship is a two-way street, so start by making the connection so you can keep fostering and strengthening your close friendships.

There are many different components of friendship. If someone is loyal to you, honest with you, shares many of your interests, and is there for you when you need them, you would likely consider them a friend.

Many of the benefits of friends could be considered evolutionary—having a group of friends can create feelings of safety and social inclusion. Caring for others, and having others that care for you in turn, can help foster a collective purpose and feelings of self-worth.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation, 2023 .

Yang YC, Boen C, Gerken K, Li T, Schorpp K, Harris KM. Social relationships and physiological determinants of longevity across the human life span . Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A . 2016;113(3):578-583. doi:10.1073/pnas.1511085112

Yang YC, Boen C, Gerken K, Li T, Schorpp K, Harris KM. Social relationships and physiological determinants of longevity across the human life span .  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A . 2016;113(3):578-583. doi:10.1073/pnas.1511085112

Naito R, McKee M, Leong D, et al. Social isolation as a risk factor for all-cause mortality: Systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies .  PLoS One . 2023;18(1):e0280308. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0280308

Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Baker M, Harris T, Stephenson D. Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: A meta-analytic review . Perspect Psychol Sci . 2015;10(2):227-237. doi:10.1177/1745691614568352

Craddock E, vanDellen MR, Novak SA, Ranby KW. Influence in relationships: A meta-analysis on health-related social control . Basic Appl Soc Psych . 2015;37(2):118-130. doi:10.1080/01973533.2015.1011271

Morelli SA, Lee IA, Arnn ME, Zaki J.  Emotional and instrumental support provision interact to predict well-being .  Emotion . 2015;15(4):484–493. doi:10.1037/emo0000084

Hill EM, Griffiths FE, House T. Spreading of healthy mood in adolescent social networks .  Proc Biol Sci . 2015;282(1813):20151180. doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.1180

Harvard Medical School. The health benefits of strong relationships .

Doom JR, Doyle CM, Gunnar MR. Social stress buffering by friends in childhood and adolescence: Effects on HPA and oxytocin activity .  Soc Neurosci . 2017;12(1):8-21. doi:10.1080/17470919.2016.1149095

Scheuplein M, van Harmelen AL. The importance of friendships in reducing brain responses to stress in adolescents exposed to childhood adversity: A preregistered systematic review . Current Opinion in Psychology . 2022;45:101310. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101310

Shadur J, Hussong A. Friendship intimacy, close friend drug use, and self-medication in adolescence . J Soc Pers Relat . 2014;31(8):997-1018. doi:10.1177/0265407513516889

Park EY, Oliver TR, Peppard PE, Malecki KC. Sense of community and mental health: a cross-sectional analysis from a household survey in Wisconsin . Fam Med Community Health . 2023;11(2):e001971. doi:10.1136/fmch-2022-001971

Houle J, Meunier S, Coulombe S, et al. Peer positive social control and men's health-promoting behaviors . Am J Mens Health . 2017;11(5):1569-1579. doi:10.1177/1557988317711605

Cox DA.  The state of American friendship: Change, challenges, and loss . Survey Center on American Life.

By Arlin Cuncic, MA Arlin Cuncic, MA, is the author of The Anxiety Workbook and founder of the website About Social Anxiety. She has a Master's degree in clinical psychology.

Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Friendship — The Importance of Friendship: Ways to Nurture and Strengthen Relationships

The Importance of Friendship: Ways to Nurture and Strengthen Relationships

• Categories: Friendship

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Words: 873 |

Published: Feb 7, 2024

Words: 873 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Table of contents

Definition of friendship, discuss the importance of friendship in people's lives, mention different types of friends, characteristics of a good friend, benefits of friendship, challenges in maintaining a friendship, ways to nurture and strengthen friendships.

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Spending Time With Family (Essay Sample) 2023

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In this digital world of pervasive screen time and social media, people are getting less social every day. Fewer physical interactions mean that everyone is becoming more prone to physical and mental health challenges. One of the best remedies to excess usage of social media is to spend some quality time with your friends and family members.

Families are the pillars of the community and there is no doubt that families are one of the most valuable gifts in life. Spending time with your family not only improves your physical well-being but also promotes physical adaptability. In this essay, I will discuss why and how to spend time with your family.

Table of Contents

Long and Short Spending Time With Family Essay for Primary, Secondary and High School Students

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700 Word Essay About Spending Time With Family

Family is the pillar of society. If we don’t have an organized, stable, and united family structure then our society, community, and even our whole nation would crumble. Keeping this in mind, everyone must spare a couple of hours every day to reunite with their families.

The basic family structure comprises mother, father, and children. In addition to this, the cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and grandparents, etc form an outer ring of the family. This essay will highlight the need to regroup and spend some quality time with all the family members.

According to the latest research , social media is the biggest cause of mental and physical problems among the young generation. A good family gathering every now and then can help boost morale and help out against loneliness anxiety. One must always find some spare time to connect with friends and family members.

The best option for spending quality time is to go and visit a relative or some other family member who lives nearby. An hour or two of family bonding time every week can help strengthen the bond between all family members. A stronger emotional bond provides a sense of comfort, security, safety, and of course love. A family reunion also lets the younger ones know about the family values, cultures, and traditions of the elderly.

The positive memories from family reunions also provide emotional support for the whole family. When the elderly share ideas in the family get-togethers, these ideas have a big influence on the kids and teens. A family reunion also serves as a place to solve old grievances between family members. It’s usually the perfect event for the elders to do patch-ups between cousins and in-laws. 

All these efforts keep the family spirit high and make them feel rejuvenated and reinvigorated.

Most Important Benefits of Spending Time with Family:

There are many benefits of spending time together with your family. Taking some time out of your busy schedule to spend it with family members is never a bad idea. Recent studies have highlighted the benefits you get when you spend quality time with family. These studies have proved that family time is not only enjoyable but also beneficial for physical and mental health. Following are some benefits of family time:

• It strengthens family bonding
• Teens and adolescents start to know about family values
• It helps young children and kids better adapt to school activities.
• Children and kids become less addicted to cell phones and social media.
• It offers a sense of relief and security to all family members.
• Eating lunch and dinner together helps teens and kids develop good communication skills.
• Family time enables parents to keep a close eye on what’s happening in their child’s life.

Different Ways to Spend Time With Family:

Holidays are the perfect time to get in close with friends and family members. There are many fun ways to engage with your loved ones, some of them are stated below:

Plan a Family Vacation

Plan a vacation ahead of a long weekend or take some days off to go out with your kids and family members. Family vacations always bring out the best in you and your children which is why they shouldn’t be ignored.

Play a Board Game

Board games are one of the best things to indulge in leisure activities with your family members. Board games help improve your children’s brainstorming ability and focus. These games also help them build life skills like teamwork, sportsman spirit, and knowing how to honor a loss.

Visit a Friend or Relative

Visiting a friend or relative is always a refreshing and soothing experience. Sharing old stories, recalling past events, and reliving those memories always ignite laughter and good cheer among the whole family.

In conclusion, spending time together is a key element in the unity of the family. No one should be too busy to miss out on family gatherings. Everyone knows about the famous saying that reads “A Family That Eats Together Stays Together”. Well, it’s time to honor that quote by throwing our cell phones away and start connecting with our loved ones.

FAQ’s About Spending Time With Your Family Essay 

Q: ways to spend time with family.

Answer: Visiting a relative, planning a vacation, playing a board game, or indulging in any leisure activity are some of the best ways to spend time with family.

Q: Benefits of Spending Time With Family 

Answer: good family bonding, less anxiety, better physical and mental health, a sense of relief, and security are some notable benefits of spending time with family.

Q: How to Write a Conclusion of a Family Essay

Answer: Just sum up everything you said in the body and introduction and stress upon why you should always take some time to spend it with your family as your closing statement.