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Touchstone Bodyworks
Massage & Family Wellness Studio
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Click here to view previous editions of Holistic Health
In this month’s newsletter, you will find :
v What's Love Got To Do With It?
v What's New
v Click Here to View our Specials
What's Love Got To Do With It?
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While pondering the affects of love on health, I found this great article I’d like to share with you… some really fascinating information within! -TM
“What has love got to do with health? Actually, a lot. And while one can be in love at any age, cynics who dismiss love as teen stuff should read on and discover how love is almost like medicine.
The benefits are not actually limited to a loving relationship between spouses. Research shows that loving relationships with parents, siblings, children, friends or a community also bring benefits. This loving relationship is more of the stable and lasting type, not the emotional roller coaster typical of romantic flings or teen crushes.
Love Prolongs Life
The British Medical Journal reports that people living without a partner have twice the risk of developing cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease later in life. The study further suggests that a life of isolation from midlife carries the greatest risk of deteriorating mental health.
Studies further indicate that a lack of love increases the risk of early death by up to five times. Loving relationships are integral to good health. At Harvard University, research found that married women are 20 percent less likely and married men 100 to 200 percent less likely to die of stress-related causes like heart disease, suicide, and cirrhosis of the liver than single people.
The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love suggests that selfless love can increase our immunity by de-stressing us. Love extends our life span by improving our mental state, reducing depression by shifting our focus from ourselves to giving or helping others.
At UCLA, researchers who studied mortality statistics found that the death rate was significantly higher for unmarried people than for married people living with their spouse, with the effect being most dramatic in the never married.
Love Lowers Your Cholesterol
The 2007 issue of Human Communication Research reports that a study concluded that writing affectionate feelings down on paper could lower one’s cholesterol level. For a period of five weeks, volunteers were asked to write about their feelings for loved ones in 20-minute sessions three times a day. Measured against a control group, significantly lower cholesterol levels were obtained.
Dr. Kory Floyd, the author of the study, is an associate professor of Human Communication at the Arizona State University and has studied affectionate communication for over a decade. She emphasized to Medical News Today, “There are many studies showing that patients benefit from receiving care and attention during illness. Our research shows that it’s as rewarding to give as to receive.”
Love Makes You Young
DHEA or dehydroepiandrosterone is the anti-aging hormone that produces feelings of youth and vitality. Levels of DHEA are also affected by feelings of love. At the HeartMath Institute in California, researchers have used studies of the physiological connections between emotions and the body to develop exercises that will stimulate feelings of love at will.
A study that HeartMath carried out with employees of Unilever showed that those who used the exercises to feel love increased their DHEA production by an average of 50 percent after six months and by an average of 90 percent after nine months. In a separate group of 30 volunteers, they measured a DHEA increase of 100 percent.
The endorphins produced by the body when in love increase blood flow to the skin, keeping it soft and smooth, and reduce the development of wrinkles. The increase in supply of essential food and oxygen to skin cells when in love also gives the face a pinker, healthier glow!
It is interesting to note that studies suggest that showing support and affection for loved ones slows down the aging process even more than receiving love does.
Love Makes You Smarter
Both recent and old clinical studies of chimpanzees in England at University of Portsmouth demonstrated that primate babies with tight relationships with their mothers or mother figures do much better on cognitive tests than babies who only receive the basics of food, shelter, and friendship with peers.
Now, if love could make kids smarter, another study confirmed that marriage could also make you smarter. Dr. Thomas Crook wrote in the March 2008 issue of Prevention that with the use of functional MRI, researchers have actually observed the effects of love on the brain.
When they measure the brain activity of people who are infatuated, areas of the brain rich in dopamine are active. Dopamine produces pleasurable sensations. When a relationship matures such as in marriage, and dopamine-driven euphoria evolves into love and respect, the area of the brain that gets activated is the cortex, the same place where information is stored and rational decisions are made.
Other studies confirm that falling in love induces a calming effect on the body and mind by raising levels of nerve growth for about a year. This hormone-like substance helps restore the nervous system and improves memory by triggering the growth of new brain cells.
Love Makes You Healthier
Dr. Dean Ornish compiled a number of studies on love and health in his book Love and Survival, the Scientific Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy. In one study he describes, researchers talked with nearly 10,000 married men who had no previous history of angina or 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 not show them love.
It’s not just romantic love that can improve your health. Just showing your care and concern for others can also provide health benefits. The Institute for the Advancement of Health had two surveys involving 1,746 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.
Health-Bearing Hug
Psychosomatic Medicine in its August 2005 issue, featured a study conducted by doctors at the University of North Carolina. They discovered that hugging has measurable benefits for the heart. Researchers asked 38 couples to sit beside 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.
Results from just one cuddle were minor, but frequent hugging can have a real impact. One of the study’s leaders, Dr. Kathleen Light, noted that in women with the highest levels of oxytocin, systolic blood pressure or peak pressure in the arteries was 10 mm/Hg lower in women with low oxytocin levels. This effect is similar to what you get from a typical blood pressure medication.
Have a great love month everyone … and do take care of your heart.”
Full credit for this article goes to its author, Mylene Mendoza-Dayrit. Reprinted from the PhilStar.com.
What's New
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Our 5th Anniversary
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January 2010 ushers in our 5th year of serving the wellness needs of Gray-New Gloucester and the surrounding communities. We are very grateful to the wonderful people that we’ve had the opportunity to walk with on their path to better health and wellness. Thank you for an unforgettable 5 years … here’s to many more!
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Thanks to Those Who Donated
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While we’re expressing gratitude, we’d like to also give many thanks to those who donated food items and winter clothing over the past few months. Your thoughtfulness has helped to ease the burden of those in need during what can be a difficult time of year for many.
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Upcoming Workshop ~
"Wellness Prevention with Ayurveda"
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Come learn about the basics of Ayurveda, the “science of life” with a focus on the approach of staying well as we prepare to spring ahead. Ayurveda originated in India more than 5,000 years ago and is the oldest continuously practiced health-care system in the world. Its focus is prevention and its goal is to teach people how to attain optimal health through the connection of natural cycles & seasons.
In this workshop, you will be introduced to simple Ayurvedic tools to take care of yourself and your family as we move into spring. Cooking demo: You will also learn how to make and sample a fresh cup of chai.
Presenter: Colleen Taylor-Capano, BS, RYT, CADC
Colleen recently completed Foundations of Ayurveda at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health and is continuing her studies in Ayurveda at Kripalu. Colleen is also a yoga teacher & holistic practitioner offering a variety of energy based bodywork techniques
Date: Saturday, March 6th 1:00-2:30 p.m.
Location: Touchstone Bodyworks, One Gray Center, Gray, ME
Fee: $10
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Click here to reserve your space today!
Best wishes to you and yours for a happy, health winter season!~
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Web site and all other original contents copyright © 2005-2009
Tammy McGrath
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