Men who go to the gym with friends may enjoy unexpected health benefits, according to US scientists

It’s well known that having a gym ‘buddy’ – someone to spot as you lift weights, or simply to socialise with as you work out – makes people more likely to stick to their exercise routines. However, the health benefits of men going to the gym together could be even wider-reaching, if findings from US research released in March* are anything to go by.

In a study of male rats, scientists at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, found that male friendships could provide positive health effects similar to those seen in romantic relationships – especially when dealing with stress.

Support through stress
Human studies show that social interactions increase the level of the hormone oxytocin in the brain, and that oxytocin helps people bond and socialise more, increasing their resilience in the face of stress and leading to longer, healthier lives. Studies of male-female rat pairs and other rodents, such as monogamous prairie voles, confirm these findings. 

The UC Berkeley research extended these studies to male rats housed in the same cage. After a mild stress, the rats showed increased brain levels of oxytocin and its receptor, and huddled and touched more – the stress actually made male rats more social and co-operative than they would have been in an unstressed environment, in much the same way as humans come together after non-life-threatening events such as a national tragedy. 

“A bromance can be a good thing,” says lead author Elizabeth Kirby, who started work on the study while a doctoral student at UC Berkeley and continued it after taking a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford. “Males are getting a bad rap when you look at animal models of social interactions, because they are assumed to be instinctively aggressive. But even rats can have a good cuddle – essentially a male-male bromance – to help recover from a bad day.

“These rats are using their rat friendships to recover from what would otherwise be a negative experience.” 

A cure for PTSD?
The research also has implications for post-traumatic stress disorder, says senior author Daniela Kaufer, a UC Berkeley associate professor of integrative biology. The work supports attempts to treat PTSD with oxytocin nasal sprays as a way to encourage social interactions that could lead to recovery. 

“We think oxytocin, which is released after stress, is a way of bringing people closer in times of acute stress, which leads to more sharing, bonding and potentially better fear extinction and an increase in cognitive health,” says Sandra Muroy, a UC Berkeley graduate student.