Five years ago, I felt a strong, very conscious ‘need’ to be around my girlfriends.

Two of my friends were dealing with cancer and I was very distressed over them. But my instinct to be near girlfriends wasn’t just to be around them, it was to spend time with any of my female friends.

I did a little research and discovered that women’s need for female friends is biological. (See ‘The Tending Instinct,’ by Shelley E. Taylor.) Female friendship makes us healthier, happier, less stressed, live longer and feel more beautiful.

In fact, this book also covered women and stress. Previously it was believed that women and men responded to stress in the same way: ‘fight or flight.’ Eventually the stress research was done on women and showed (amazing!) – that we’re different! We respond to stress with ‘tend and befriend.’ When stressed, we want to take care of our children and we have the need to be Read More »