They say that you should keep your friends close, but apparently a lot of people like to keep their mothers even closer. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but there’s a new study that says the mother and daughter bond is the closest kind of bond that anyone can experience in their lives. In other words, the relationship a woman has with her mother is more important and valuable than the one she has with her partner, her siblings, her friends, or the other people she holds near and dear in her life.

We don’t need a scientific study to tell us that we love our mothers, but researchers are giving it to us anyway. The Journal of Neuroscience looked into the different kinds of relationships that women have with several different individuals in their lives. The study focused on 35 families and found out that the part of the brain that regulates emotions is more similar between mothers and daughters than any other intergenerational pairing. The study focused on father-daughter, father-son, mother-son, and mother-daughter relationships, in practically the same quantity. The researchers found that mothers and daughters have identical anatomy in the part of the brain that governs the emotions.

It was also noted that the participants didn’t have any neurological or psychiatric disorders, no history of using strong medication or drugs, and no contraindications to magnetic resonance imaging, which each participant underwent so a “map” of the brain could be created.

If that weren’t enough, another study determined the connection between mothers and daughters remains stronger than other type of intergenerational family relationship throughout all the changes of life. Not surprisingly, more research has shown mothers and daughters influence each otherin different ways than other relationships.

Yes, having your mother close to you is good for both your heart and your brain. She’s there to help pick you up when you are down, comfort you when you need a little comforting and be your partner in shopping if you need a quick retail fix. So, what are you waiting for? Pick up the phone and call your mother – she’s waiting to hear from you.

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