How love affects your health
Radio discussion with Zulaikha and Sue July 2019
Love makes the world go round, they say but it affects our health in many unusual ways according to some interesting new scientific studies that we are going to share with you today.
Unconditional love creates relaxation and space for healing. It sends your cells the message to repair, rejuvenate and recreate. Love heals not only your body, but your mind and relationships as well.
Q Why do they say that oxytocin is a love hormone?
When we hug, cuddle and enjoy quality time with friends, family and pets, our brains release oxytocin, also called the love hormone. This hormone bonds you with others, protects you from the effects of stress and literally heals the heart. People who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or those in a constant state of anxiety and low-grade fear suffer from a lack of oxytocin. Autistic children are known to have very little, if any oxytocin.
Oxytocin is known as the cuddle hormone and breast fed babies thrive on it as much as the actual mother’s milk. But did you know it can also alleviate fear, anxiety and headaches? The hippocampus is an area of the brain involved in memory and learning and to the extent that the mother is involved in teaching and nurturing, the child’s hippocampus becomes larger than normal. So too, this helps to enlarge and stimulate the mother’s brain.
Therapists who give massage and energy-based treatments to their patients are familiar with the feedback loop they create. The better they make the patient feel, the better they feel themselves. This effect demonstrates the outgoing surge of power you receive when giving this therapeutic love to others. I have often experienced the bliss one feels when treating patients who are stress-bound. It manifests as muscle spasms, diseased organs and poor circulation – the opposite of the love vibration. Once released, that energy flows through the patient as well as the therapist – a win-win situation.
Q How can we best give love to a person in need?
By touch, where possible and if appropriate, but thoughts and prayers also are effective. Patients recover from surgery sooner when groups of people pray for them. When words fail to comfort a distressed person, especially in a time of grief, a big, sincere hug does a lot of good. Children are comforted by hugs, and forget about all the “nasties and ouchees”. Kiss it better and by wrapping a large colourful bandage around the affected limb, one manifests the “white jacket” healing effect. The extra time spent on a patient, the reassurance that the bandage has been applied by an expert.
I remember having LASIK eye surgery and had a similar experience. Lying on the cold, hard table, staring at the little light with my head clamped down, watching the instruments approach my eye. Then I felt my hand being held, tightly, firmly by the theatre sister. She persisted, never letting go. I smelled burnt flesh as my cornea was skimmed by a laser to correct my eyesight but everything was OK. She was with me, she cared and I couldn’t even see her!
Q Why do we go crazy when we fall in love?
Experiencing real, unconditional love makes us feel acknowledged, accepted, secure and of value. It floods our bodies with feel-good, healing hormones.
This is not the case when we fall in love. Hormones change after a love at first sight impulse and a surge of dopamine ousts the oxytocin. The head spins, the heart races and one gets a high! There are so many songs that describe the headiness of being in love and the consequent crash of being dumped. “Breaking up is so very hard to do” and emotional pain really does hurt. Having a broken heart or being severely distressed can actually enlarge the heart and make us ill.
A skewered perception of love is that it is a feeling and along with that feeling come expectations, conditions, and sometimes emotional pain. However, when we are fortunate enough to experience true love, both as giver and receiver, we find that love heals in mind, spirit and body and brings joy and fulfilment into our lives. Often it is tough love that wins in the end. Replace the judgement, demands and expectations with acceptance, forgiveness and outgoing concern. These attributes of love are what wins in the end when developing a true relationship with a partner for life.
Q How does it feel to be without – or unresponsive to love?
You often shut out the universal love vibration due to feelings of unworthiness. Some of us try too hard to please others, seeking acceptance and we neglect and judge ourselves. This feeling of unworthiness can cause a decline in oxytocin and a rise in fear, stress and anger hormones. Stress, or more accurately distress, tells your cells to prepare for attack. Stress hormones limit the body’s ability to repair and heal. A real or imagined sense of being attacked constricts your energy. Even your DNA is affected. Stress also causes you to make unhealthy choices and neglect proper food, rest and exercise. In time it damages your mental as well as your physical wellbeing.
This Bliss Hormone Can Heal Your Body: The Many Benefits of Oxytocin
19 Scientifically Proven Ways “Love” Affects Our Bodies Like A Drug
https://www.everydayhealth.com/womens-health-pictures/benefits-of-a-mothers-love.aspx
Love frequency of the heart =639hz Good to listen to and play to others:
Finally a quotation from Dr. Shrock author of Why Love Heals. He worked with many cancer patients using Mind-body medicine and his book cites scientific proof that love heals. To his surprise the time, kindness and care (love) he gave to the patients worked better than the medications, supplements and treatments.
“Love is the all-pervasive energy that flows through everything. Love is oneness because on a subatomic level all of us are connected. When you experience it, you are resonating with the essence of the universe and who you are. The quantum field flows freely and health is its natural consequence. You yourself are source. Connecting both emotionally and spiritually is the essence of life and health.