Creating A Better World

Studies have shown that when people feel loved or give love they live longer, feel happier, have better health, make more money and are less prone to depression.

Love, compassion and joy make our immune system function better and help fight diseases.

Researchers found happily married people had the best blood pressure, followed by singles. Unhappily married participants fared the worst.

In another study, researchers subjected 16 married women to the threat of an electric shock. When the women were holding their husband’s hand, they showed less response in the brain areas associated with stress. The happier the marriage, the greater the effect.

Researchers at Ohio State University Medical Center gave married couples blister wounds. The wounds healed nearly twice as fast in spouses who interacted warmly compared with those who demonstrated a lot of hostility toward each other. The study was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Oxytocin is a brain chemical that is released when mothers and babies first bond.

Massage, eye contact, hugs, and orgasms all increase oxytocin levels. A close, loving relationship increases the production of this brain chemical (single men and women produce less oxytocin than those in intimate relationships). Any positive experience can increase oxytocin levels – and so can simply recalling positive events.  Oxytocin is associated with positive relationships.

Dr Kai MacDonald and other University of California (San Diego) researchers are theorizing that oxytocin could help with psychological disorders. It reduces fear, increases eye contact, and increases trust and generosity.

In another study, people who considered themselves to be passionately in love were given brain scans (MRIs) and it was seen that the brain sees romantic love as a reward, stimulating activity in the same areas that light up when a person receives any kind of a reward.