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In A Bad Mood? You Might Have Picked It Up

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Like a cold, good and bad moods can be 'picked up' from those around you.

Your friends have the most impact, according to a new study led by the University of Warwick.

"Evidence suggests mood may spread from person to person via a process known as social contagion," said Public health statistics researcher Rob Eyre who led the study.

The team's findings show that's not the only thing that spreads among friends - so do symptoms of depression like helplessness and loss of interest.

While those are contagious, they are not strong enough to push other friends into depression, researchers said.

It's also about how many people you surround yourself with.

They found that having more friends who suffer from bad moods makes it more likely for you to be in a bad mood with a lesser chance of improving your mood.

There is flip side to that.

According to the study, the opposite applies to people who surrounded themselves with more positive people.

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