✦ Short Read · 2 min ✦

Neuroscientists have a name for what happens when you see a close friend after a long time apart: social reward activation. The brain releases oxytocin — the same hormone triggered by falling in love — flooding the prefrontal cortex with warmth. In other words, your brain on friendship looks a lot like your brain on joy.

Harvard's landmark 80-year study on happiness found that the single strongest predictor of a long, healthy, fulfilled life wasn't wealth, status, or diet. It was the quality of your close relationships.

So the next time you cancel plans with a friend because you're tired — reconsider. That coffee might be the healthiest thing you do all week.

"The greatest gift of life is friendship, and I have received it." — Hubert H. Humphrey