Science proved that Bromances are Healthy

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – Take out your Brocode book and spend a little more time with your best bud, because lady Science managed to show that Bromances are healthy. We all know what’s it like to hang out with your best friend, especially when one of you are going through a tough situation. This being said, get on the horn and set up a small ding dong with your best friend.

Thinking more out of the box, this is perhaps something more instinctual than sciency. From ancient times, man sought the company of a man, and for a very good reason. It’s much easier to brave out the “slings and arrows of the outrageous fortune” with someone besides you than alone.

Studies of this kind have been around for some time now, and most of them pointed out the fact that prosocial behavior is not only natural but healthy as well. At least, as our mental health is concerned.

And to brand it all in the name of Science, a team of snappy researcher managed to demonstrate how the so-called Bromances can help us handle stress.

The study in question was carried out by several psychologists from the University of California. Starting from the assumption that individuals work and fare better in pairs, the team wanted to see how several lab mice handle stress if they put in the same cage.

So, the team gathered up some roomies and subjected them to various experiments to see how they fare when exposed to mild stressors.

In the first experiment, the roomies rodents had to face the fact that their water was gone. Previous experiments showed that mice who were not roomies would react quite differently to this type of stressors.

Sandra Muray, an undergrad student at Berkeley, who was also involved in this study, declared that mice that were not acquainted with one another would storm in to claim their precious liquid after the scientists returned it. Moreover, the undergrad researcher also mentions that the mice would shove each other apart, just like 7-year-olds.

But the new experiment showed that rat buddies and roomies actually behaved pretty civil even in the face of stress. The researcher also kept a close eye on the mice’s oxytocin level (happiness and love hormone).

After the two mice spend a lot of time together, their brains would secrete higher levels of this hormone when exposed to a mild stressor like the missing water bowl. Even after the scientists returned the water recipient, the two roomies continued to play nice.

In another experiment, the researchers wanted to see how this Bromance helps mice face the threat of imminent death. Using a slide containing fox urine, the researchers wanted to simulate how the two roomies would react if they knew that they were in danger of being devoured.

As in humans, the two rodents started to behave less social, becoming more vigilant and less inclined to rely on its bud. Subsequently, their oxytocin levels were much lower than in the previous experiment.

The conclusion of this new research paper is that Bromances can help us handle stress far better than if we were left alone.

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