0
0
Moments of happiness as a couple can have a measurable positive effect on health: when older couples experience positive feelings together, their levels of the stress hormone cortisol decrease. This was reported by a team of researchers led by psychologist Tomiko Yoneda from the University of California, Davis, in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
“We know from numerous studies that positive emotions such as happiness, joy, love, and excitement are good for our health – they are even associated with a longer life,” explains Yoneda, according to a press release from the American Psychological Association. “In real life, however, our strongest positive emotions often occur when we connect with someone.”
Study participants were between 56 and 89 years old
The team wanted to understand how such shared moments affect the body. To do this, the researchers analyzed data from 642 older adults (321 couples) from three studies in Canada and Germany that were collected before the coronavirus pandemic began in 2019. The participants were between 56 and 89 years old.
For one week, they reported five to seven times a day via an electronic questionnaire how happy, relaxed, and interested they were feeling at that moment. After each survey, they provided a saliva sample to measure their cortisol levels. This resulted in a total of almost 24,000 individual measurements.
The result: cortisol levels were lower when both partners reported positive emotions at the same time. This correlation remained even when factors such as age, gender, medication, or natural daily cortisol fluctuations were taken into account.
The effect is independent of relationship satisfaction
“There was something uniquely powerful about sharing these positive emotions,” explains Yoneda. It is particularly noteworthy that the effect continued throughout the day: “When couples felt good together, their cortisol levels remained lower later in the day. This suggests that sharing positive emotions may actually help the body remain calmer over time.”
Furthermore, the effect occurred regardless of overall relationship satisfaction. Even couples who were less satisfied overall benefited physically from shared moments of happiness.
In future studies, Yoneda wants to investigate whether similar effects also occur in other social relationships—for example, between friends, family members, or colleagues. “According to the theory, such moments can occur between any two people, not just between romantic partners,” she said. “This opens up completely new possibilities for future research.”
This post has already been read 71 times!
