But the jury is still out on how friends help us to cope with stress at a physiological level. Now new research into the role of relationships among chimpanzees suggests that friends don’t just create a “social buffer” by helping us during stressful times. They may also reduce our overall stress levels just by being present in our lives, regulating the way our bodies manage stress-indicating hormones.
Stress has been explored extensively in numerous non-human primates, including chimpanzees, macaques and baboons, and we know it can be devastating. For example, high stress levels in baboons can cause gastrointestinal ulcers and even early death. Strong social bonds appear to act as a buffer against the worst consequences of stress. There are broad health benefits to this, for instance a surprising increase in infant survival among less-stressed baboon mothers. [...]
A newly-published article in Nature Communications looks into two possible mechanisms behind the way social bonds act as a buffer to stress in chimpanzees. The researchers looked at two contrasting theories: whether “bond partners” (the chimpanzee equivalent of friends) just make particularly stressful times less so, or whether the effects of this partnership are felt throughout the day.
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