Love and healing
the power of love and social ties in our lives

Try this simple test. Think of the time you were totally in love – how do you feel? Energized? Recharged? Invincible? And what happen when the loved one dies? Don’t you felt sicker?

Scientific evidence has demonstrated that one’s emotion greatly affects the immune system, our major defense against disease. Positive feelings like love and faith appears to strengthen the immune system, making it possible for the body to fight off illness.

Rabbits in Love
Let’s check the scientific evidence available for us nowadays:

In a study at Ohio State University, researchers fed a population of rabbits a high-fat diet that raises blood cholesterol levels and increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. After a period of time, the rabbits were then autopsied and their arteries examined. While most rabbits seemed to suffer from the high-fat diet, one group of rabbits however, has 60% lower rate of coronary disease. Why? As it turned out, these rabbits had actually been taken out of their cages everyday, petted and talked to in loving tones by one of the researchers.

The team then decided to test this hypothesis and conducted two more studies. Each time they took the time to take a smaller group of rabbits out of their cages everyday, stroke them and give them loving attention. The results were the same. The rabbits that were treated with love and tenderness had far less atherosclerosis than other rabbits.

Of course, studies on the power of love have not been conducted only on animals

Rosetans and Love
A remarkable example was a study conducted in the township of Roseto, Pennsylvania, US, where the residents experienced a surprisingly lower incidence of heart attack compared to the national average. At the same time the people in the community also have less than the national average incidence of ulcers, senile dementia and other common medical problems. When researchers began to investigate the reasons, they we surprised to find that most of the Rosetans actually suffer from obesity!

Why do these people have lower incidence of heart attacks while their diet is no better than most people in the country? Researcher found out that their diet was typically rich in fat and other unhealthy products like the typical Americans. Researchers were also puzzled when they found out that the Rosetans did not exercise more than the average American.

After a thorough study, it was concluded that the reason the Rosetans seemed to defy medical rules is because it was a very tightly-knit community where members regularly came to one another’s aid in times of crises. People in need routinely received food, money, and other assistance from family members and friends from the community. This love and kindness resulted in the enhanced ability of the population to cope with stress and ward off health problems they might otherwise have to suffer.

Other studies
If you are not convinced that love and good social ties could make a remarkable difference, look at these studies :-

• After monitoring 1200 elderly for 3 years, Swedish researchers found that those who had satisfying health ties were 40 % less likely to develop dementia than those who had fewer social relationships.
• In 1992, study of heart patient at Duke University found that those who were without a spouse or confidant were 3 times as likely to die within 5 years of diagnosis than those who are married or have close friends.
• Ronald Glaser, an immunologists at Ohio State University in Columbus said, "One of the worst things you can do to someone is isolate them". He was referring to a handful of studies done in US, Japan and Scandinavia that shows lack of social support could raised the risk of premature death even more than smoking cigarettes.
• In another study of how good social relationships could reduce the amount of stress, Glaser found that caregivers of Alzheimer patients who had good social support showed stronger immune response than those who did not.
• In Yale University, a study of 194 heart attacks patients found that patients who claimed to have emotional support were 3 times more likely to be alive 6 months after the attack than the one without it.
• At Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, researchers dripped cold viruses into the nose of 276 volunteers who were later quarantined to see the effect of emotional support in human. Volunteers who had a wide range of friends had only a quarter of the chance of getting a cold compared to those who have smaller number of social ties.

Believe it. That's the power of love.

	The Power of Your Emotion Positive attitudes and ability to handle emotions have been shown to strengthen our ability to fight disease.					Faith and Healing Medical community are slowly embracing the fact that faith can do wonders.
•	Laughter -really is the best medicine! Laughing may be important to maintain a healthy endothelium, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease				•	What does faith has to do with healing Religious faith not only promotes overall good health, but also aids in the recovery from serious illness
•	Love and healing In Yale University, a study of 194 heart attacks patients found that patients who claimed to have emotional support were 3 times more likely to be alive 6 months after the attack than the one without it.				•	Proofs that faith can heal In a 1997 study in India, Hindus who prayed regularly were 70% less likely to have coronary heart disease.

"a quote"

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us

- helen keller