Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? It is better to make friends with intelligent people than with people who have a good sense of humor. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

Nowadays, making good friends seems to be a must because they have a direct effect on our lives. Some people believe that it is better to have friends who are smart than those who are funny. However, I believe that friendship with humorous people is better. I feel this way for two reasons which I will explore in the following essay. First of all, I feel that laughing is a crucial factor in people’s mental health. By having humorous friends, an individual laughs more and hence can relieve his/her stress caused by living in today’s hectic life. For instance, a Danish university conducted a study showing that when people communicate with funny friends, mentally are healthier compared to when they do not, because the human brain releases the serotonin hormone through laughing which has a great positive effect on reducing stress and feeling happier. In addition, funny friends are the best options in whom sad people can take refuge in because these friends can make others feel better by doing and saying something funny. The experience I have had personally illustrates this well. When I was twenty, I had a humorous friend who always made me feel happy. In those days, I was going through a difficult time. However, on all the ad days on which I had a feeling of depression, my friend helped me feel better by making me laugh, and hence I was able to deal better with difficulties and forgot my sadness even for some hours thanks to his humorousness. To sum up, briefly, I believe that having a good sense of humor is an important characteristic of a friend. This is because funny friends can positively affect others’ mental health by making them laugh and moreover, these friends are a really powerful shelter when people are on difficult days and feel sad.