Written by Melanie Kozlan, Four Green Steps

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, it appears health researchers seem to have love on the mind. Curious of love's impact on your health and well-being? Read on to see how it can affect you both mentally and physically.

From the Huffington Post:

Researchers from around the U.S. conducted several small studies, presented at a meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, examining the interactions between love and stress and love and infidelity, as well as the cost-benefit analysis that goes into saying "I love you."

In one of the studies, researchers looked at 34 couples who lived together and tested for the stress hormone cortisol before, during and after being separated for four to seven days. Researchers found that when the couples were separated physically, they had higher cortisol levels and had worse sleep than when they were together. More

From ABC News:

A new study reports that when people were with their spouses or partners their blood pressure lowered slightly. It didn't matter if the relationship was a loving or positive one, either. Even if the relationship was not a particularly happy one, blood pressure still dropped a bit. More

Image courtesy of Creative Commons.

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