Prescription for Health : All You Need Is "Love"

Research Shows Expressing Love Is Crucial To Your Health

Imagine getting a prescription that reads: "100 milligrams of love, twice daily, unlimited renewals." Caring, of course can't be put in a capsule, but can heal as powerfully as medicine. "Love is a basic human need," says Dean Ornish, M.D., author of Love and Survival: 8 Pathways to Intimacy and Health."When we don't get it, we pay a price in how long we live and how likely we are to get sick."

We may also pay a price if we don't give love. According to Stephen Post, Ph.D., professor of bioethics and religion at Ohio's Case Western University, research shows that loving acts neutralize the kind of negative emotions that adversely affect immune, endocrine, and cardiovascular function.

But beyond our need to get and give it, what is love? How do we define something as essential and invisible as air? Researchers often look at human connection as the cardinal signal of love.

Scientists have taken the study of love in new directions, examining everything from the impact of mother's smile on her baby to the healing power of hugs. An interesting discovery has been how many kinds of connections count. Ties to friends, family, work, neighbours, and community can bolster health and happiness.

Beyond Romance
A powerful shift is occurring in the understanding of love, declares Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize winning science writer and author of Love at Goon Parle:Harry Hallow and the Science of Affection. " The science of today puts kindness ahead of romance," she says. The field of psychology ha shifted from Freud and sexuality to an adult view of love as responsibility and caring. The message is very clear: Taking care of each other is the nature of love."

Giving love allows you to ascertain who you are. "I define love as the un-sought for discovery of self through giving," Post says. He sees love as our indestructible core, an insight he confirmed when he began to work with Alzheimer's sufferers. " People with cognitive deficits are incredibly sensitive to affection. Any person can respond profoundly to love."

Post recalls one Alzheimer's patient who handed him a twig with a big smile. "If love was a wind, you'd have been blown off by your chair by the love in his eyes." he says.

Extend and Connect

So how do we "self-medicate" with love?

You can begin with a simple exercise in awareness: Choose a neutral person in your world, perhaps someone who sells you a morning coffee, and think of that person with compassion. "This practice awakens feelings of resonance and joy, which actually changes your biology (by releasing the chemical dopamine the brain)," says Sally Severino, M.D., professor of psychiatrhy ay University of New Mexico.

Move on to visualizing those closest to you with compassion. "The key is to cultivate a feeling of joy when you connect to others," says University of California psychiatrist Jeffery Schwartz, M.D. His brain-imaging studies have shown that compassionate practices stabilizes and balances brain functions, sometimes as effectively as medications such as antidepressants.

Finally, remember that love takes many forms, and that connection is more than romantic love. Expand your circle of love into a friendship toward all living things.

"I used to feel loved because i thought I was special," says Ornish. "Now I feel special because I am loved and I can love."
Your Rx (prescription) for Love

Your Rx For Love

Here are some simple actions to bring more love into your life.

1. Do small things with great kindness
2. Volunteer
3. Touch and be touched

4. Avoid rudeness

5. Love and do what you will

"If you get into a state of love, no matter what you do , it's going to be good." - St. Augustine

Source: Self-Realization Magazine, Issue: Summer 2008