Why Having Roommates Is Good For You

[caption id="attachment_831966" align="alignleft" width="1068"] Bigstockphoto.com/Young women sitting on sofa and laughing at funny situation[/caption] If you’re out of college, a few years into working, and can finally afford to live alone, you may be more than ready to ditch the roommates. But don’t be too quick to turn down your friends’ offers to live together, and start seeking out studio apartments. Research shows that being isolated from people can cause your health to take a turn, can affect your mental function, and can even shorten your lifespan. If you weren’t happy with the people you lived with in the past, maybe having roommates wasn’t the problem so much as who those roommates were. Find the right people to live with, and you could be doing your health and overall sense of well being a favor. Here are reasons having roommates is good for you.   [caption id="attachment_697797" align="alignleft" width="469"] Shutterstock[/caption]

You’ll be discouraged to binge eat

If you’re having a terrible day and all you want to do is eat everything in the kitchen, you’ll have someone to stop you. Your roommate may not exactly say, “Don’t eat that” but you’ll feel a little silly dragging bag of chips after bag of cookies into your room when your roomie is watching.             [caption id="attachment_703763" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You’ll always have someone to talk to

You’ll always have someone to tell your exciting news or vent to about your terrible day. Sometimes trying to get a friend or family member on the phone, just when you need to talk, is difficult. But if you have a roommate, all you have to do is walk in your front door.         [caption id="attachment_610546" align="alignleft" width="502"] Shutterstock[/caption]

You’ll have a built-in social life

If you read about an event you want to go to or feel like going to brunch, you don’t need to coordinate with friends and schedule plans three weeks in advance. You can just grab your roommate and go.         [caption id="attachment_613147" align="alignleft" width="600"] Corbis Images[/caption]

You can meet their network

You have a natural way to double your friends. Your roommate’s pals become your pals. You never know whom you might meet or what sort of connection you may make—you could make work connections, find a new dog walker, or find a fellow hiking enthusiast.   [caption id="attachment_717418" align="alignleft" width="420"] Shutterstock[/caption]

You have someone to exercise with

If you see your roommate heading out to the gym every day, it’ll be hard to stay on the couch, watching television for three hours. She can inspire you to exercise. And, if you just want a companion for power walks, you’ve got one.         [caption id="attachment_714748" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Dating becomes safer

If you don’t come home on a night you said you would, you have someone who will notice that and check in on you. If you bring home a guy who ends up making you uncomfortable, you have someone there to help you kick him out.           [caption id="attachment_710061" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Someone can alert you to danger

Someone can alert you to a fire, an earthquake, a flash flood warning…If you forget to turn the oven off, somebody will notice. If you forget to lock the front door, somebody will notice.           [caption id="attachment_610508" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Your place has more supervision

Your place will benefit from twice the security. At any given moment, there is twice the chance somebody will be home, keeping an eye on the place, ready to call the police if somebody tries to break in.           [caption id="attachment_715033" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You can split groceries

You may be encouraged to buy actual groceries since you have someone to split the cost of bulk bags of lettuce, huge boxes of grapes and massive packages of chicken breasts.             [caption id="attachment_824800" align="alignleft" width="420"] Bigstockphoto.com/High Angle View Of Young African Female Janitor Cleaning Hardwood Floor With Vacuum Cleaner[/caption]

You have a reason to clean

You won’t be allowed to let your messy habits get out of hand. You will have to clear the dirty dishes out of the sink and clean the bathroom on a regular basis because you and your roommate have an agreement. And that’s just better for everybody’s health.             [caption id="attachment_620940" align="alignleft" width="500"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You can share a pet

If you’ve been wanting to get a pet, you now have somebody to share the responsibilities with. Taking care of a dog is pretty easy when you have two people taking turns walking and feeding him. And having a pet around fights depression, gives you a sense of purpose, and is simply a lot of fun.     [caption id="attachment_621822" align="alignleft" width="420"] Corbis[/caption]

You can bounce ideas off somebody

If an idea comes to your head—maybe an idea for a website or a side business or an art project—you instantly have somebody there to be your sounding board. And you need one, because sometimes your ideas need a little tweaking.         [caption id="attachment_620944" align="alignleft" width="500"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

They can see if you’re in a slump

If you fall into a depression or a slump, somebody is there to see it and pick you up out of it. You may be able to hide your depression from your coworkers, family, and friends, but you can’t hide it from the person you share a home with.     [caption id="attachment_698081" align="alignleft" width="419"] Shutterstock[/caption]

Somebody can judge your Tinder decisions

Your roommate can keep you in check if you’re clearly going on a sex bender, and are not exhibiting the greatest judgment in dates. You may even filter your dates better, knowing that you’ll be bringing them home for your roommate to meet.         [caption id="attachment_718993" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

They’ll influence your spending

You’ll start to feel a little self-conscious about all the Amazon packages that show up and all the bags of clothes you drag through the house each week if you have a roommate around watching you. And maybe you should feel self-conscious about that.         [caption id="attachment_622021" align="alignleft" width="500"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You can’t be alone with your thoughts for long

Sometimes your brain goes to some weird places. You can get into spirals of self-doubt, negative thinking and overall anxiety. If you live alone, you have nobody around to interrupt you when you’re in a weird place. But when you have a roommate, there is always somebody to distract you from yourself. [caption id="attachment_624240" align="alignleft" width="500"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

They’ll open up your world

Your roommate will open your world up. They’ll introduce you to their interests, hobbies, lifestyle, culture and more. They probably experience parts of your city you didn’t even know about, and they’ll show them to you.     [caption id="attachment_703521" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You’ll always have their input

You’ll always have someone to give you input on your outfit, the chair you might buy for your room, the guy you’re checking out online and whether or not you’re wearing too much makeup.             [caption id="attachment_609308" align="alignleft" width="500"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

You’ll feel safer

You’ll feel much safer when you hear a thump in the night. Living alone gets scary fast when you think you hear something in the apartment.         [caption id="attachment_715001" align="alignleft" width="425"] Shutterstock[/caption]

You won’t become a recluse

You can’t become a total hermit who says no to social plans and pretends she has something else to do when those plans involve Netflix and sewing buttons onto your pants. Your roommate sees you becoming a hermit and she’ll get you out of it.

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