Khaberni - New research has shown that sharing happy moments with a partner may be beneficial to the health of elderly people, as it contributes to lowering levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) in their bodies.
The lead researcher, Tomiko Yunida from the University of California, Davis, explained in the research paper published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology: "We know from extensive research that positive emotions like happiness, joy, love, and enthusiasm are beneficial for health, and have even been linked to longevity. However, most of this research studies emotions as if they occur in isolation from others. In real life, our strongest positive feelings often arise when we interact with others. We wanted to understand how often elderly people share these positive moments in their daily lives, and whether these shared moments have a tangible effect on the body."
To explore this phenomenon, Yunida and her team analyzed data from three studies involving 642 participants (321 couples) aged between 56 and 89 years from Canada and Germany.
During the studies, supervised by the American Psychological Association, participants filled out short electronic surveys about their emotional state 5 to 7 times daily for a week, in addition to collecting saliva samples each time. By analyzing 23,931 separate measurements, the researchers found that moments of positive emotional sharing between partners were linked to a significant reduction in cortisol levels, even after accounting for other influencing factors such as age, gender, medication, and natural daily fluctuations of the hormone.
Yunida commented on the findings, saying: "There was a unique effect of sharing those positive emotions together. What's even more exciting is that we found indicators that these shared moments have enduring effects, as the decreased cortisol levels continued later into the day."
Interestingly, this effect appeared regardless of the overall satisfaction level with the relationship between the partners, suggesting that merely sharing positive moments could have an independent physiological benefit.
Yunida plans in the future to study the effect of sharing positive emotions beyond the confines of marital relationships, to include friends, coworkers, and family members, affirming that the theory of "positive resonance" suggests the possibility of enhancing emotional and physiological well-being through any synchronous positive interaction between individuals, not just romantic partners.
