We all sure know we are in the midst of the holiday season. Along with this time comes stress mixed with love in getting presents taken care of; enjoying and equally hating those holiday desserts that you are unable stop eating and nostalgia on another year which flew by so quickly.

It is important to remember during this busy time to make time for our friendships. It is so easy to spend those extra several minutes or hours sending out more holiday cards, wrapping presents, getting one last gift in the jungle of determined shoppers. Then on top of the holiday to do list we still have our day to day lives to keep up, such as cooking, cleaning, working, going to school, taking care of our kids and oh yeah ourselves:)

To make time for our friendships during this demanding time almost seems impossible. What I do know is that if a rat can do it so can we. Of course a rat does not have all the holiday demands (besides eating chocolate) on their plates, but they do have choices to make, as do we.

Neurobiologist Peggy Mason of the University of Chicago and her colleagues did a series of experiments with rats. In one cage they trapped one rat in a plexiglass tube and let another free. The free rat even when enticed with chocolate chips still first went to free his cage mate. After his cage mate was free he then proceeded to share his chocolate with him. Wow, is what I say to this. Rats have the emotional set up to sacrifice their personal gain (chocolate) to help a fellow rat. Again, if a rat can make choices such as those so can we.

During this holiday time choose friendships. Ditch the sweets and other demands to the curb for a while or don’t ditch them at all, share them with your friends as the rats did.

Spending time with your friends during this holiday time will alleviate some of your holiday stress and overall make you feel better. Again, what is true for rodents is true for us. Jeffrey Mogil is a psychologist at McGill University in Montreal.Work in Mogil’s lab has shown that when mice are given a temporary stomach pain, their female cage mates will go spend more time near them. And the more time their cage mates spend with them, the less pain behavior the mice will show — suggesting that the extra companionship is in response to the pain and that it actually helps in alleviating it.

Whether you or a friend has stomach pain or other stresses be a pal to her and yourself and spend time together. Incorporate your friends into what you still may need to get done. If you still need to shop, shop together. In my book, The Friendship Effect, there are more studies and facts conveying that friendship and companionship are physically and mentally life changing and saving.

The next time you see your caller id displaying your friend’s name or a friend asks you to hang out, before you instantly say “no” or don’t pick up the phone because of the million things you have to do…remember the rats that not only chose to help their friends but also shared their chocolate with them. If they can do it, so can we. Enjoy the rest of your holiday season:)