Having more friends 'better than morphine'

Friday April 29th, 2016

Friends are better than morphine - and the wider circle of friends people have, the higher their tolerance for pain, according to a new analysis.

Researchers at Oxford University, England, used pain tolerance to assess the brain's endorphin activity to test the theory that chemical has a powerful pain-killing effect.

Katerina Johnson, a doctoral student in the university's Department of Experimental Psychology, said: “Previous studies have suggested that endorphins promote social bonding in both humans and other animals.

“One theory, known as 'the brain opioid theory of social attachment', is that social interactions trigger positive emotions when endorphin binds to opioid receptors in the brain. This gives us that feel-good factor that we get from seeing our friends.”

The researchers tested 107 individuals – 30 men and 77 women – who were asked to undertake an isometric quadriceps exercise, also known as the wall sit test, which involves squatting against the wall with knees at a 90° angle and a straight back.

They were asked to hold this position for as long as possible and the time was recorded to the nearest second.

The participants were also asked to complete a questionnaire about their lifestyle and personality.

Even when allowing for differences in individual fitness, the study found that people who could endure this pain test for longer, also tended to have larger social networks.

“These results are also interesting because recent research suggests that the endorphin system may be disrupted in psychological disorders such as depression,” said Johnson.

“This may be part of the reason why depressed people often suffer from a lack of pleasure and become socially withdrawn.”

The research also found that fitter people and those with higher reported stress levels tended to have smaller social networks.

“It may simply be a question of time, however, there may be a more interesting explanation,” says Johnson, whose findings are published in Scientific Reports.

“Since both physical and social activities promote endorphin release, perhaps some people use exercise as an alternative means to get their 'endorphin rush' rather than socialising.

"The finding relating to stress may indicate that larger social networks help people to manage stress better, or it may be that stress or its causes mean people have less time for social activity, shrinking their network.”

Johnson K and Dunbar R. Pain tolerance predicts human social network size. Scientific Reports April 2016; doi:10.1038/srep25267

Tags: General Health | Pain Relief | UK News

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