7 Scientific Reasons You Should Always Tell The Truth

Hanna and Emily in PLL Season 5 Episode 13

ABC Family

Telling the truth sometimes sounds easier than it actually is. From not wanting to hurt people close to you to trying to protect yourself, there are a lot of things that get in the way of honesty — and they happen quite often, too. According to Forbes, lying expert (yep, that’s a thing) Robert Feldman says that about 60 percent of us can’t go through a ten-minute conversation without lying at least twice.

Just ask the girls of Pretty Little Liars — how know how complicated the truth is firsthand. They’ve kept secrets to protect themselves, family and friends (ahem, Allie) and have been framed by A’s awful lies as well. But sometimes you’re watching and want to scream at the TV, “come on! Just tell the truth!” Wouldn’t that make everything easier?

And even though your life (hopefully!) isn’t as dramatic as theirs, there are a ton of benefits to telling the truth for you, too. Science, take it away…

1. It makes you healthier physically

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Honesty just may be the best medicine. In a University of Notre Dame study, two groups of adults were studied for five weeks straight. One group was instructed to tell the truth about everything, while the control group was not. The results? The honest group was found to be in better health than the control group. They had fewer sore throats, headaches, and nausea.

2. It makes you healthier mentally.

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We all know how good it feels to get something off our chest. So maybe it’s time to forget yoga for relaxation, and give telling the truth a try. In addition to better physical health, the honest group from the same study also were less tense at the end of the five weeks.

3. It makes you worry less.

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According to the Association for Psychological Science, in the 1970s, James Pennebraker, a psychologist from the University of Texas, found some pretty remarkable effects of disclosing a secret — one being that it’ll reduce distress and worry.

4. It improves relationships.

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Ever feel like telling the truth about something brought you closer with your BFF or partner? You’re not alone. Honesty, even when you’re coming clean about a secret you’ve been keeping, can give you credibility with others. And, Pennebraker discovered that coming clean about a secret can improve social relationships.

5. It improves your sleep.

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Warm milk, white noise and counting sheep are no longer surefire ways to help you get rest when you’re stressed out over something. But honesty may be your secret to a good night’s sleep. Pennebraker found that people who tell the truth become better sleepers.

6. It makes you a better listener.

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The truth may difficult to talk about but it actually may affect your conversational skills, too. Pennebraker also found that people who revealed a secret became better listeners.

7. It unclogs your brain

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When you feel at ease after you’ve gotten the truth off your chest, your brain is actually working better. Through his experiments, Pennebraker found that just writing about a traumatic secret you’ve been hiding can unclog your brain —the right and left brains communicated more frequently than subjects who hid their secrets. It also helps you make sense of what you’ve been hiding it because it helps you organize it and understand it better.

So, dolls, do you prefer the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Or do you think a little white lie is necessary once in a while? Tell us in a comment!

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