Love Heals the Body: How Love Benefits Your Health · Conway, SC (2024)

FAQs

How does love heal the body? ›

In fact, love encourages your body to produce oxytocin, the “feel-good” or “love” hormone. Oxytocin can reduce overall stress and improve the immune system, which in turn decreases cell death and inflammation. Love decreases anxiety and staves off depression, which then reduces the risks and signs of heart disease.

Feeling loved and valued by others helps to promote healthier lifestyle choices, good self-esteem, lessens stress factors, and provides better life-long mental health. A strong sense of self-worth can also lead to healthier relationships now and in the future.

Being in a positive relationship may also promote faster wound healing! A group of researchers gave couples small blister wounds and were instructed to discuss a marital disagreement. The couples who interacted more amicably and lovingly saw their wounds heal about 60% faster than their more hostile counterparts.

When we are falling in love, chemicals associated with the reward circuit flood our brain, producing a variety of physical and emotional responses—racing hearts, sweaty palms, flushed cheeks, feelings of passion and anxiety.

Specific areas of the brain are activated when you fall in love, in particular the limbic system and the reward centres. The limbic system has key roles in emotion and memory. This causes a positive mood and explains why the memories associated with new love are so strong.

Love heals the core of our being, also known as the soul. This is where we feel, think and make decisions. When this part of us in injured it doesn't function properly. Love heals not only the mind, the will, and the emotions themselves, but also how they're designed to work together.

It heals old wounds and shows you that you are lovable. It proves those wrong who made you feel otherwise through their actions or words. Love brings you peace. And if you ever doubt that the love you experience is healing, ask yourself if what you're experiencing is love.

Unconditional Love

This can connect us beyond our sense of separateness to something greater within and outside that can transcend limitations to boundless possibilities. This can give us strength, happiness and peace.

It is important to note that while love and positive emotions can contribute to a person's overall health and well-being, they are not a substitute for medical treatment and should not be relied on as the sole form of healing for physical illnesses.

If you feel you've done the work and are ready to find love, it can be frightening but it can also be the next step in recovery from trauma. “Relationships can be very healing. There's absolutely hope that it could help you on that path,” Barton says.

How do you heal from someone you love? ›

Health benefits of strong relationships

The benefits of social connections and good mental health are numerous. Proven links include lower rates of anxiety and depression, higher self-esteem, greater empathy, and more trusting and cooperative relationships.

We've seen that loving relationships can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression -- a fact that may give the immune system a boost. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that people who exhibit positive emotions are less likely to get sick after exposure to cold or flu viruses.