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Made a last edit for the Social Support article.

Providing Support
There are both costs and benefits to providing support to others. Providing long-term care or support for someone else is a chronic stressor that has been associated with anxiety, depression, alterations in the immune system, and increased mortality. Thus, family caregivers and "university personnel" alike have advocated for both respite or relief, and higher payments related to ongoing, long-term care giving. However, providing support has also been associated with health benefits. In fact, providing instrumental support to friends, relatives, and neighbors, or emotional support to spouses has been linked to a significant decrease in the risk for mortality. ''Researchers found that within couples where one has been diagnosed with breast cancer, not only does the the spouse with the illness benefit from the provision and receipt of support support but so does the spouse with no illness. It was found that the relationship well being was the area that was benefited for the spouses of those with breast cancer'' Also, a recent neuroimaging study found that giving support to a significant other during a distressful experience increased activation in reward areas of the brain.

Children
By the time infants reach the age of two, their brain size has reached 90 percent of an adult-sized brain; a majority of this brain growth has occurred during the period of life with the highest rate of sleep. The hours that children spend asleep influence their ability to perform on cognitive tasks. Children who sleep through the night and have few night waking episodes have higher cognitive attainments and easier temperaments than other children. ''When it comes to children and their sleep habits, disruptions of their sleep has been correlated with attention hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Because of this children need to maintain a certain amount of sleep. Whether it be through getting a nap or by going to bed at a reasonable time. In regard to the amounts of time children should sleep, it varies depending on age. Infants require 14 to 15 hours per day, not all at once. For children between the ages of one and five sleeping times begin to change. By the age of two, toddlers sleep about 13 hours and this amount continues to decline the older the child gets. ''

Sleep also influences language development. To test this, researchers taught infants a faux language and observed their recollection of the rules for that language. Infants who slept within four hours of learning the language could remember the language rules better, while infants who stayed awake longer did not recall those rules as well. There is also a relationship between infants' vocabulary and sleeping: infants who sleep longer at night at 12 months have better vocabularies at 26 months. ''Along with sleep aiding in children's psychological functioning, Ogawa et al. (2018) found that sleep effects mental health. their study showed that by getting enough sleep and being active that their was a significant association with physical activity (PA) and the lowering of ones depression and anxiety Sleep has multiple benefits.''

Naps-

The siesta habit has recently been associated with a 37% lower coronary mortality, possibly due to reduced cardiovascular stress mediated by daytime sleep. Short naps at mid-day and mild evening exercise were found to be effective for improved sleep, cognitive tasks, and mental health in elderly people. ''Naps are defined by Staton, Smith, Hurst, Pattinson, and Thorpe as a set aside amount of time during the day for an individual to lie down and during this time there is to be no other kind of activity. Also, even if the individual does not sleep they still should remain laying down and cease any other activities. They are beneficial for not only the elderly but children as well.''

Additions to the Social Support Article-

Support Groups

Social support groups can be a source of informational support, by providing valuable educational information, and emotional support, including encouragement from people experiencing similar circumstances.Studies have generally found beneficial effects for social support group interventions for various conditions, including Internet support groups. These groups may be termed "self help" groups in nation-states, may be offered by non-profit organizations, and in 2018, may be paid for as part of governmental reimbursement schemes. ''According to Drebing, previous studies have shown that those going to support groups later show enhanced social support… in regard to groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA), were shown to have a positive correlation with participation in their subsequent groups and abstaining from their addiction. Because correlation does not equal causation, going to those meeting does not cause one to abstain from divulging back into old habits rather that this been shown to be helpful in establishing sobriety. While many support groups are held where the discussions can be face to face there has been evidence that shows online support offers the same amount of benefits. Coulson found that through discussion forums several benefits can be added such as being able to cope with things and having an overall sense of well being. ''

Mental health-

Social support profile is associated with increased psychological well-being in the workplace and in response to important life events. ''There has been an ample amount of evidence showing that social support aids in lowering problems related to ones mental health. As reported by Cutrona, Russell, and Rose, in the elderly population that was in their studies, their results showed that elderly individuals who had relationships where their self-esteem was elevated were less likely to have a decline in their health.'' In stressful times, social support helps people reduce psychological distress (e.g., anxiety or depression). Social support can simultaneously function as a problem-focused (e.g. receiving tangible information that helps resolve an issue) and emotion-focused coping strategy (e.g. used to regulate emotional responses that arise from the stressful event) Social support ≤has been found to promote psychological adjustment in conditions with chronic high stress like HIV, rheumatoid arthritis,cancer, stroke, and coronary artery disease.''Whereas a lack of social support has been associated with a risk for an individuals mental health. This study also shows that the social support acts as a buffer to protect individuals from different aspects in regards to their mental and physical health, such as helping against certain life stressors.'' Additionally, social support has been associated with various acute and chronic pain variables (for more information, see Chronic pain).

Other studies have examined the social support systems of single mothers and pregnant individuals. One study by D'Ercole demonstrated that the effects of social support vary in both form and function and will have drastically different effects depending upon the individual. The study found that supportive relationships with friends and co-workers, rather than task-related support from family, was positively related to the mother's psychological well-being. D'Ercole hypothesizes that friends of a single parent offer a chance to socialize, match experiences, and be part of a network of peers. These types of exchanges may be more spontaneous and less obligatory than those between relatives. Additionally, co-workers can provide a community away from domestic life, relief from family demands, a source of recognition, and feelings of competence. D'Ercole also found an interesting statistical interaction whereby social support from co-workers decreased the experience of stress only in lower income individuals. The author hypothesizes that single women who earn more money are more likely to hold more demanding jobs which require more formal and less dependent relationships. Additionally, those women who earn higher incomes are more likely to be in positions of power, where relationships are more competitive than supportive. ''For pregnant individuals who were already depressed showed that there was no indication of a social support system and for postpartum depression, the risk of it happening increased when there was a deficiency in their social network. ''