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 Who doesn't love being in love? A true Valentine
listens to you vent about work, lets you have that last slice of
pizza, and (usually) remembers to take out the trash. He doesn't
expect you to watch the Super Bowl. And he always thinks you're
sexy, even in thermal underwear and bunny slippers.
Scientists have long been keen to prove that love gives us health
benefits, too—beyond the obvious advantage of always having a date
for New Year's Eve. Researchers can't say for sure that romance
trumps an affectionate family or warm friendships when it comes to
wellness. But they are homing in on how sex, kinship and caring all
seem to make us stronger, with health gains that range from faster
healing and better control over chronic illnesses to living longer.
The benefits of love are explicit and measurable:
A study last year from the University of Pittsburgh found that women
in good marriages have a much lower risk of cardiovascular disease
than those in high-stress relationships. The National Longitudinal
Mortality Study, which has been tracking more than a million
subjects since 1979, shows that married people live longer, have
fewer heart attacks and lower cancer rates, and even get pneumonia
less frequently than singles. And a new study from the University of
Iowa found that ovarian cancer patients with a strong sense of
connection to others and satisfying relationships had more vigorous
"natural killer" cell activity at the site of the tumor than those
who didn't have those social ties. (These desirable white blood
cells kill cancerous cells as part of the body's immune system.)
Some experts think it won't be long before doctors prescribe steamy
sex, romantic getaways and caring communication in addition to
low-cholesterol diets and plenty of rest. If that sounds like a
happy Rx, here are ways to make the emerging evidence translate into
real-life advice.
The benefits of bear hugs
Doctors at the University of North Carolina have found that hugging
may dramatically lower blood pressure and boost blood levels of
oxytocin, a relaxing hormone that plays a key role in labor,
breastfeeding and orgasms.
Researchers asked couples to sit close to one another and talk for
10 minutes, then share a long hug; afterward they found positive,
albeit small, changes in both blood pressure and oxytocin.
But the power of frequent daily hugging was intense: The women with
the highest oxytocin levels had systolic blood pressure that was 10
mm/Hg lower than women with low oxytocin levels—an improvement
similar to the effect of many leading blood pressure medications,
says Kathleen Light, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry at UNC and one
of the study's authors.
"Getting more daily hugs from their husbands was related to higher
oxytocin, and so the hugs were indirectly related to lower blood
pressure," she says. Men didn't get the blood pressure benefit from
hugging. But don't feel bad for him: He probably gets the same
health gains from steady sex that you do from daily snuggling.
A 2002 study from the University of Bristol in England found that
men who had sex two or more times a week cut their risk of having a
fatal heart attack in half. And a recent study from the National
Cancer Institute found that men who ejaculate frequently may be
protecting themselves against prostate cancer.
(Sarah Mahoney writes from her home in Durham, ME.)
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