Hugging has positive benefits for the heart.
"All you need is love." John Lennon
Can Love Improve Your Health?
Studies have suggested that love and good health are linked, as well as, for example, that happily married people live longer and how intimacy and healing power are strongly linked, but can love alone truly have that much of an impact on your health? Research points to more than being married or getting regular exercise from love-making that keeps individuals healthy. Love affects health in positive ways. Just how simple is it to get the benefits? *Here are some of the best proven health benefits of love and how to obtain them:
*Better heart health
Researchers talked with nearly 10 thousand married men who had no previous history of angina (chest pains.) Despite high risk factors like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes, men who felt loved by their wives experienced half the angina as men who felt their wives did show them love.
*Lower cholesterol levels
According to a study reported in a 2007 issue of Human Communication Research (issue 33, pp. 119-142) merely placing affectionate feelings down on paper can lower cholesterol levels. For a period of five weeks, volunteers wrote about their feelings for loved ones in 20-minute sessions three times a day. Afterwards, they were found to have significantly lower cholesterol levels than their peers.
*Increased youth hormones
Levels of DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone,) the "anti-aging" hormone, which produces feelings of youth and vitality, are also affected by feelings of love. At the California-based HeartMathInstitute, researchers have used studies of the physiological connections between emotions and the body to develop exercises to teach people how to feel love at will. A study carried out with employees of the Unilever company found that those working with the HeartMath exercises increased their production of DHEA by an average of 50 percent after six months and 90 percent after nine months. In another group of 30 volunteers, DHEA levels increased 100 percent.
Interestingly, showing support and affection for loved ones seems to slow the aging process even more than receiving love does. Results of a study of more than 700 elderly people showed that the effects of aging were influenced more by what the participants contributed to their social support network than by what they received from it. This may, of course, show that those who are healthier are better able to contribute.
*Healthy hugging
A study conducted by doctors at the University of North Carolina, published in the July/August, 2005 issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, discovered that hugging has measurable benefits for the heart. Researchers asked 38 couples to sit close to one another, talk, and then hug. Afterwards, women showed somewhat lower levels of cortisol and lower blood pressure, while both men and women had increased levels of oxytocin, the bonding hormone.
*Pain relief and a stronger immune system
Beyond romantic love ~ just showing care and concern for others in a community can improve health. The Institute for the Advancement of Health conducted two surveys involving a total of 1746 people who did volunteer work. Results showed that helping out in the community offered relief from pain related to stress-sensitive conditions like multiple sclerosis, headaches, and lupus. Researchers suggested effects were due to relaxation and endorphin release.
The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, based in Cleveland, Ohio, studies the benefits of altruism. Esther M. Sternberg, who worked with the institute, suggests acts of selfless love can increase immunity by decreasing stress. When under stress, the body releases the hormone cortisol, which can suppress the immune system.
© 2009 gabriella d filippi
For more on love and romance, visit my friend Rita's Love-and-Marriage Examiner site for interesting articles like these:
and
AND New York Love Examiner Dr. Paulette's piece: http://www.examiner.com/x-2473-NY-Love-Examiner~y2009m9d3-Is-the-Way-to-Anyones-Heart-Really-Through-the-Stomach
ALSO more interesting health-related reading:
http://www.examiner.com/x-12104-Health-and-Happiness-Examiner~y2009m8d26-LOL-Laughter-IS-medicine
All Health and Happiness Examiner articles, photographs, and artwork © 2009-2010 by Gabriella D. Filippi. Reprints granted with written permission. All rights reserved.
Comments
Sent a "love link" right back to you in Love Secrets./ R
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