Spending time with friends and family is one of the key ingredients to living a healthy life.

Here's why.

1. Social people live longer

You heard right! People who have healthy relationships with friends and family tend to live longer, with less risk of cardiovascular disease, overall stress, and loneliness.

2. Social people enjoy better mental health

Your overall mental health tends to be better when you can share your triumphs as well as your challenges with people who care.

A burden shared is a burden halved, as they say. And successes are even sweeter when relived with a friend :-)

3. Social people have a more robust immune system

There is a direct correlation between good relationships and a healthy immune system. You're less prone to colds and flu (and some would even say some types of cancer) by hanging out with your friends. Who knew?

4. Social people have better brain health

Don't just do Sudoku! People who enjoy healthy relationships perform better on memory and other cognitive tests and are even less likely to develop dementia.

5. Social people can make the most of positive peer pressure

Have you ever heard that you're most likely to emulate the results of the five people that you spend the most time with? This is peer pressure in action.

By hanging out with caring people who have your best interests at heart, you are more likely to make empowering choices in all areas of your life so get out there and get sociable.