Personal Best

How important are friendships for our health, our happiness and our wellbeing? Gillian Russell asks whether, in our increasingly busy lives, we should be paying a bit more attention to them? Psychologist Dr Kirsty Miller explains why friendships are important to us as humans, the impact it can have on us if we neglect that part of our lives and how we can address the lifestyle issues that prevent us from prioritising friendships. Richard Forbes visits Befrienders Highland to find out how they help people in the community who are lonely and isolated. Dr Carolyn Parkinson from the University of California describes the research they’ve done into brain similarities amongst friends and what it means in terms of our behaviours. Eric Sinclair shares his experiences of lifelong friendships, especially in times of need. Angelika Love from Oxford University explains why diversity in friendship is important for our development, our wellbeing and our life experiences.