The Connection Between Love, Happiness, and Good Health

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Practitioners of mind-body medicine (MBM) have long suggested that we can limit the negative effects of chronic stress and promote overall well-being by taking steps to ensure we live a happier, healthier, and more socially connected life. Now, an article reviewing all the research on MBM and other aspects of life that support good health, published by researchers from the German Institute for Integrative Health Care and Health Promotion, confirms that common MBM tools, treatments, and interventions that help put you in a positive emotional state, along with love, social connections, and happiness, can reduce the effects of stress and support your overall health.

Such MBM practices include mindfulness techniques, cognitive-behavioral or positive psychology, good nutrition, physical activity, relaxation techniques, meditation, and other physical, psychological, spiritual, and cultural interventions. These stress-reducing behaviors and practices improve mental and physical health by increasing the sense of rootedness, love, compassion, strength, and empathy we feel within ourselves, as well as the connectivity we feel toward others.

Unresolved or uncontrolled stress can lead to overreaction in challenging situations and an overproduction of stress hormones in the body, which can negatively impact all aspects of health. Excess stress hormones can interfere with cognitive functions, such as memory, learning, and flexibility. At the same time, feeling as though you lack the ability or resources you need to cope with, adapt to, or deescalate life’s many challenges is stressful in and of itself and can lead to physical, psychological, emotional, and social issues.

The researchers found that love in its many forms, social connection, and happiness (defined simply as a feeling of personal well-being) are all interconnected and associated with reduced stress and increased social activity that can ultimately lead to improved mental and physical health. Love encompasses romantic love, love for family and friends, or love for a pet, and can extend to love for specific places, material objects, and favorite activities.

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Love is described as feelings of attraction, attachment, passion, trust, and enjoyment, all of which stimulate reward centers in the brain that reinforce feelings of pleasure. When love isn’t stressful, its calming influence can promote a state of relaxation that helps buffer or balance a potentially overactive stress response.

Social connectedness—the degree to which you feel connected to and supported by your family, friends, and community—has well-established mental and physical health benefits and has even proven to be a predictor of longevity in both healthy individuals and those who suffer from chronic diseases. That’s why it’s important to continue building and sustaining social relationships throughout your life.

Happiness, optimism, laughter, agreeableness, and an extroverted, easygoing, or other positive personality type have all been found to reduce the risk of disease and early death in healthy people, though the effect on people with chronic illnesses is still unclear. An important measure of happiness is your subjective well-being, or how you perceive and experience your own life rather than how anyone else sees it. Your personality, socioeconomic status, health, and level of social support are just some of the factors that can determine your subjective well-being and, by extension, your overall health.

Overall, the researchers concluded that when efforts are made to promote a positive psychological state that encompasses aspects of love, social connection, and general happiness, your overall well-being is improved, and you may live longer. Because happiness can be considered essential to overall health and well-being, the researchers suggest that future studies consider which recommended health interventions also contribute to an individual’s level and perception of happiness. They say it is also imperative to consider the impacts of spirituality, culture, motivation, and access to support systems on love, social connectivity, health, and happiness. The goal of mind-body medicine, after all, is to enhance overall well-being, in great part by reducing negative responses to stress that can ultimately lead to physical and mental disorders.