As an editor for this golf blog, I get a lot of email about golf for women. The subjects vary: golf products reviewed, golf tournament schedules, golf updates and news for women golfers both recreational and the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association.) Today I received an email from a friend which included a message that relates to the health of women golfers and how, by playing golf together, they actually improve their physical well-being. You may very well have read this message as I’m sure it has been circulating on the internet for a while. But it’s worth a second read. So here goes:

. . . . .

They Teach It at Stanford

A friend just finished taking an evening class at Stanford. The last lecture was on the mind-body connection – the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman, whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends.

At first everyone laughed, but he was serious.

Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality “girlfriend time” helps us to create more serotonin – a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings? Rarely.

Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters, mothers, and friends, and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.
There’s a tendency to think that when we are “exercising” we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged—not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking!

So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky. Sooooo let’s toast to our friendship with our girlfriends. Evidently it’s very good for our health!

– Source: Anonymous (unless somewhere can let me know from whence this passage originates…?)

What do you think? Are you better for playing a round of golf with your women friends?