NEW YOU Health Tip: Maintain relationships that are good for your immune system!
Affectionate, loving and thoughtful relationships are not simply ideal for one’s happiness; they are also anti-aging agents that promote a healthy immune system. Before you lose too many T cells, which protect the body against infection, ensure that your relationship meets the criteria of loving. A groundbreaking study by researchers at Ohio State University studied the links between health and close relationships in 85 couples using surveys and blood samples. Those who experienced attachment anxiety—constantly worrying about rejection, seeking reassurance and negatively interpreting events in the relationship—produced 11% more stress hormones and up to 22% less T cells. Fewer levels of these cells mark an aging immune system. “Most research that does exist in this area supports the idea that being in very caring, loving, close relationships might be a catalyst to change from being very anxious to not,” said the study’s lead author Lisa Jaremka.
