Picture your brain lighting up like a pinball machine—“feel good” hormones dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin all firing at once. That’s what happens when you sit across from a friend and talk. Now picture those same circuits going dark and stress hormones flooding in. That’s isolation. Your brain knows the difference, even when you don’t.
Neuroscientist Ben Rein calls social connection one of the brain’s most powerful internal “drugs.” In his work exploring why brains need friends, he noted that close relationships aren’t just emotionally rewarding—they’re essential fuel for a healthy brain and protection against cognitive decline. His work, and a growing field of social neuroscience, shows that the presence of friends—or even brief, kind interactions with strangers—helps the brain feel safe, stimulated, and primed to heal.
