The Scientific Benefits That Come From Falling In Love

Butterflies in our stomachs. The feeling that our heart is going to burst out of our chests. While some might be looking for a doctor, others know precisely what that feeling is: being in love. It's something that some people try to avoid at all costs, and others can't help but chase.

While plenty spend their lives looking for the one to ride that high, it turns out there could be even more benefits to falling head over heels in love with someone. That's right; the scientific benefits that come from falling in love could have more positive effects on our lives than many of us ever realized.

Being in love can help us live longer

Plenty of people want the key to living a long and healthy life. What if that's being in love? That's right; it turns out finding the one could help us to live longer, with a 2017 study published in American Psychologist stating all those feel-good emotions can help to add extra years to our lives. Amazingly, there are two things at play. For one, happier people usually end up in a relationship and therefore enjoy lower levels of stress as a result. Then there's the fact that partners tend to want the best for their loved ones - even if it comes across as nagging - and will often encourage them to make healthier choices, like eating more fresh food and exercising more.

We can heal faster when we're in love

It's not just being in a relationship that will see your body heal faster than others; you need to be in a happy relationship. One study took 37 couples and made blister wounds on their arms before they were asked to interact with each other for a period of time. Those who had enjoyable moments with their loved ones showed much faster healing rates than those who had unpleasant experiences, showing just how powerful love can be.

Love has been linked to having better mental health

While some people can feel their hearts beating a little faster when they're around the ones they love, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're stressed. In fact, being in love is shown to have benefits on our mental health. Having positive relationships with others is shown to reduce anxiety and depression, but those in relationships felt the biggest relief. While it doesn't alter the clinical imbalance going on with clinical mental health issues, being with someone you love can lessen the blow of stress across the board.

Cardiovascular health can be improved with love

Our hearts can feel like they play a big part in our relationships, but what if the same can be said for the other way around? If you're in a healthy relationship, you might find your cardiovascular health starts to improve. A 2015 JAMA Internal Medicine study investigated couples who wanted to make lifestyle changes to see how it affected their other half. Things like giving up unhealthy habits and exercising more spurred 50% of women and 48% of men in one regard and two-thirds of partners in another in the study to join their partners, meaning both got to enjoy the health benefits of some simple changes.

Being in love might decrease our pain

Positive experiences can release a host of feel-good hormones in our bodies, and the same goes for being in love. Did you know that love might actually lead to a decreased amount of pain, too? That's because our brains start to release dopamine which can act as pain relief across our bodies. In fact, a study from Stanford showed that people looking at photos of their loved ones felt significantly less pain in their hands, almost as though they had taken pain medication.

We might sleep better when we're in love

When your heart feels linked to another, you should find that your sleep starts to improve. The University of Minnesota performed a study to investigate the long-term effects of being in love, starting by asking people about their relationships at 23 years old. They later interviewed them at 32 about their stressful life moments and current relationships. Apparently, the quantity of their sleep didn't change. However, those who were in happy relationships when they were 23 admitted to having a better quality of sleep by the time they were reinterviewed, as well as noting fewer stressful life events.

While it might seem like it's just our hearts that want someone by our side, it turns out there are plenty of scientific benefits that come from falling in love, too. Who would have thought?