Healthy relationships are more than just a source of comfort—they’re a cornerstone of our mental, emotional, and even physical well-being. Whether you’re in a romantic partnership, a deep friendship, or part of a chosen family, the quality of your connections can shape your life in profound ways. Let’s count down the five biggest benefits of healthy relationships, drawing on expert insights and the latest research.
5. Longer Life
Being close to other people isn’t only about happiness—sometimes it can keep you alive longer, too. Research suggests that individuals in healthy relationships tend to live longer. Relationships become a shield against lonely and isolated states of mind, which have also been associated with a higher risk of death. Having one or two close relationships can drastically enhance your health and life expectancy, says Northwestern Medicine Psychologist Sheehan D. Fisher, PhD.
4. Increased Sense of Purpose
It can make life worthwhile to enjoy healthy relationships. You tend to feel like you’re doing something positive for someone else and making the world a little better when you’re in a loving relationship or part of an empathetic community. That sense of purpose isn’t just good for the heart—science has found that it’s associated with improved health outcomes and may even cause you to live longer. The need to take care of others and be cared for as well is a strong motivator that can propel you over the obstacles of life.
3. Healthier Behaviors
The individuals you are with decide your habits. In case your wife, friends, or loved ones encourage healthy habits, eating, exercise, or staying away from harmful activities, you will be likely to do the same. Healthy relationships create an atmosphere of wellness that encourages adopting healthy habits. Having a support group that’s all about wellness, these habits turn out to be contagious.
2. Enhanced Healing
Supporting relationships actually can mend you faster. Research indicates that long-term committed couples who have to undergo major medical surgery, such as heart surgery, are more apt to recover better than singles. Emotional support—a nag to take medication or even someone to distract you from hurting—can create confidence and diminish concern over recovery. The healing power of a loving partner or friend is no myth and is quantifiable.
1. Less Stress
Perhaps the simplest benefit of good relationships is that they minimize stress. Being in a stable relationship is associated with lower cortisol levels, the body’s primary stress hormone. Having someone out there who cares about and loves you, even when he or she isn’t present, is a mood booster. Cohabiting couples have greater satisfaction and resistance to psychological stress. The emotional security blanket provided by a positive relationship can assist you in handling the adversities of life more calmly and assuredly.
Of course, it doesn’t just magically happen. Healthy relationships take continuous effort, focus, and compromise. Good communication is the most important thing—being able to talk openly, listen without pre-judgment, and discuss differences respectfully with one another gives each other confidence and strengthens your bond. HelpGuide recommends that maintaining emotional intimacy, respecting each other’s boundaries, and actively supporting each other’s interests outside of the relationship are all contributing factors towards long-term success.
Trust and commitment are the foundations of any relationship that is healthy relationship. As the Gottman Institute has described, loving your partner and making daily decisions to strengthen your commitment can carry you through hard times and strengthen your bond.
Also worth noting is that relationships can look different. The spectrum now includes open relationships, polyamory, companionate relationships, and even tolyamory, where couples actively create their own intimacy and commitment rules. No matter the form, the essentials are the same: open communication, respect for each other, and a mutual understanding of what the relationship is.
Attachment styles play a major role in our dispositions towards relationships and happiness. Secure attachment is most likely to be rated higher on happiness, autonomy, and self-acceptance, while anxious or avoidant attachment will be more stressed and have poorer emotional regulation. In a study by Elisabetta Sagone and associates, securely attached individuals with close relationships rated higher on psychological well-being than singles, and attachment styles of confidence were related to positive outcomes.
In the end, healthy relationships—romantic, friend, chosen family—are the secret ingredient to living a well-lived life. They facilitate growth, healing, and flourishing by offering support and stability that helps us be our best selves.