When you are deeply in love, you often feel a sense of excitement. Your body surges with the oxytocin hormone, which is responsible for feelings of attachment and trust. While this is often highest during the “puppy love” or early stages of a new relationship, many married couples still feel a deep, intense, exciting love for one another.
Do you feel head over heels for your spouse? If not, there’s no reason to fret. Many couples have trouble communicating throughout their relationship, which can lead to a spike in stress and relationship unhappiness. However, by taking a marriage course online, couples can learn to strengthen their relationship and resume their blissful love.
Are you ready to reap the health benefits of your romantic relationship? Here are 8 ways your “happily ever after can improve your mental and physical health for the better.
1. Quality Time Reduces Stress
Stress is the body’s reaction to distressing or potentially harmful situations. It causes feelings of unease and anxiety to wash over your body.
The side effects of stress on your mind and body can be crippling to your health. Such side effects include:
- Difficulty relaxing
- Low self-esteem or unworthiness
- Fatigue
- Difficulty sleeping
- Desire to avoid social situations
- Grinding teeth
- Constant nervousness
- Chest pain
- Moody; easily irritated
- Upset stomach
- Inability to focus
- Low libido
The good news is that studies show couples who spend quality time together experience a boost in happiness and a decline in stress.
One way you and your spouse can spend quality time together is by having a weekly date night. Research indicates this is especially helpful for couples who both work full-time jobs or for parents raising children. It has been shown to improve marital excitement and Eros love.
Taking a marriage course online can also help improve your relationship. By taking these courses you will learn how to deepen your compassion for one another. It also teaches the art of healthy communication and problem-solving.
2. You’ll Live Longer
It may sound strange but science suggests that couples who have a healthy, active sex life may live longer than couples who do not. This is because sex contributes to a healthy heart, reduces stress, and increases telomere – that is, the silky ends that prevent eukaryotic chromosomes from clumping together.
Trust us, it’s healthier for you!
3. Boosts Happiness
Happy couples maintain a healthy sex life together. Research has proven that marital satisfaction is significantly associated with sexual satisfaction.
Couples who have a healthy, avid sex life where they are able to freely communicate their desires with one another have been shown to have greater life satisfaction.
Still not convinced that better sex leads to a happier life? Research suggests that an increase in sexual activity to at least four times a month boosts happiness by the same amount you would feel from getting paid an extra $50,000 a year.
Other forms of intimacy are equally as important to a boost in morale. Research shows that kissing activates the brain’s reward system. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9924738
Sexual satisfaction also heightens emotional intimacy, which can help couples feel more connected and in love.
4. Lowers Risk for Memory Problems
BMJ Journals shows that married couples have a lower risk of dementia than singles do. This research reveals that married women and men lower their chances of developing dementia by as much as 43 percent.
5. Improves Mental Health
Research done by Carnegie Mellon University found that couples who were in a happy marriage carried less of the stress hormone cortisol than those who are single or divorced. Therefore, the happier you are, the less stressed your life is.
Reminiscing can also improve both your brain and emotional health. Research published in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that reminiscing can improve your self-esteem, lower symptoms of depression, boost personal wellbeing, and heighten your overall life satisfaction.
6. Increases Surgery Survival Rates
Research done by the University of Rochester found that happily wedded couples who undergo coronary bypass surgery have a higher chance of surviving and thriving after surgery than singles are. In fact, happy couples are three times as likely to still be alive 15 years after their surgery.
Couples know how to support each other through difficult times. For those who don’t, taking a marriage course online may be a beneficial choice.
By taking these courses, couples will learn to develop compassion for one another. This deepens marital intimacy and helps partners to treat each other better, especially during times of distress.
7. More Likely to Survive Cancer and Heal Faster
Many have studied the miraculous effects that love has on your healing process.
Research conducted on marital behavior and wound healing found that the oxytocin and vasopressin released by couples in love caused them to heal from blister wounds faster than participants who had lower levels of oxytocin in their body.
Furthermore, when scientists studied medical records of more than 800,000 cancer patients, they found that singles were more likely to pass away from cancer (men at 27 percent and women at 19) than their married counterparts.
8. Improves Heart Health
When you love your partner, you give them your heart, so it’s only natural that they will help you make it stronger.
The European Journal of Preventive Cardiology reports that a happy marriage can lower your blood pressure and increase your overall heart health.
Couples who share a great sense of humor can also reap the benefits of a healthy heart. In a study of more than 20,900 participants, results revealed that the prevalence of heart disease was lower for couples who regularly laughed together and higher for those who reported rarely laughing.
Other Spillover Effects of a Healthy Relationship
Apart from these startling health benefits that a happy relationship entails, other positive spillover effects of a happy and healthy relationship for happily married couples are a successful career with a more positive and level headed outlook at life. People who enjoy relationship happiness transfer the same positivity and productivity in their work deliverables.
A supportive spouse minus any unnecessary drama at home ensures that the employees are productive, confident and energetic. Being coupled up with a compatible partner who is also conscientious means that you are always gently nudged in the direction of taking the judicious call at career front. A good partner can have profoundly positive effects on the career front.
When people are in a safe and stress-free relationship, they feel comfortable turning to the spouse for advice and motivation. In times they hit tricky spots or when work stressors leave them with little bandwidth to reach professional milestones, partners can be a good emotional resource to unwind, get a perspective and plunge back to work with newfound vigor.
Having said that, all these benefits of being coupled up are contingent on the status of the relationship. According to this Harvard study, a high conflict relationship will turn out to be bad for your health, and is apparently worse than a divorce. Conclusively, a relationship rife with conflicts and dissatisfaction will have just the opposite carry-over on the career front than a happy relationship.
The bottom line is not only does the love you have for your spouse make you happy and successful, but it can also have a positive effect on your mental and physical health. If your love is lacking, consider taking a marriage course online to improve your connection and strengthen your marriage.
Author Bio:
Sylvia Smith is a writer who likes to write about relationships and how couples can revitalize their love lives in and out of the bedroom. She is currently associated with Marriage.com. She is a big believer in living consciously and encourages couples to adopt its principles in their relationships. By taking purposeful and intentional action, Sylvia feels any relationship or marriage can be transformed and truly enjoyed.
Cover Image credits: Photo by burak kostak from Pexels
