Turn Up the Romance: 5 Benefits of Being in Love
This article appeared on Yoganonymous.com.
Photo via Google Images
Love isn’t about you, or your significant other—love is about the magicthat happens when the two of you come together.
Yes, there is more than one type of love—there’s romantic love, friendship love, familial love, self-love—the list can go on and on. But what is really remarkable about love is that it trickles into your life in unexpected ways, with unexpected benefits.
Here are five special and unexpected ways romantic love helps us out in our day-to-day lives.
5 Benefits of Being Romantically in Love
1. Love helps you heal faster.
An Ohio University study found that a 30-minute positive, supportive discussion with your loved one can help speed up the time it takes for your body recover from an injury. This support and connection actually helps your body recover 24 hours faster than if you had not experienced feelings of love and support. So, the next time you get physically injured, have a loving chat with your beau—their words and compassion will have you feeling better, faster.
2. Love gives you a rush of happy feelings.
A study in the publication Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience titled "Neural correlates of long-term intense romantic love," found that people who were in love had a neural activation in the dopamine system of their brains.
Which means: People who are in love are more likely to experience feelings of happiness and joy, compared to those who are not in love. Why? When your dopamine reward system is activated, you receive a rush of feel-good, I’m-on top-of-the-world emotions. So the short synopsis of this is that love makes you feel great.
The best part about this study is that it included people who had been married for an average of 21 years and also people who were just newly in love. So it doesn’t matter if it’s a fresh love or an old love—the benefits of a loving connection are all the same.
3. Love helps you cope with stress.
In an article in The Washington Post, Brigham and Young University Professor, Julianne Holt-Lunstad states, “Relationships help us cope with stress, so if we have someone to turn to for emotional support or advice, that can buffer the negative effects of stress.”
Stress-busting tip: Hug the people you love, often. Hugging not only relieves stress, but also boosts the production oxytocin (the love hormone), and increases bonding and feelings of closeness.
4. Love is good for your heart.
A study done at the University of Pittsburgh found that women in happy marriages have a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular disease than those in stressful relationships. So if you are in love, snuggle up a little tighter. Not only will you be helping yourself live longer, you’ll also be creating a stronger bond between you and your significant other.
Do you want more of a boost of this hearty goodness? Go for walks with your love—it gives you time to catch up, get some heart-healthy exercise, and spend some time in nature. Win, win, win!
5. A committed relationship helps you live a longer, healthier life.
The Department of Health and Human Services issued a report that found marriage helps you live longer, drink less, have fewer doctor’s appointments, and have higher feelings of happiness than those who aren’t married.
Don’t worry, you don’t need to be married for your relationship to be beneficial to your health. All you need is to genuinely care about your partner, look out for their health and well-being, and be mutually committed for the long term.