Healing Wonders of Love
By Richard G. Mendoza, MPH, PhD
In May 1996, Reader’s Digest featured the story of newborn twin girls who were in separate incubators of a hospital. One was not expected to survive. Going against hospital policy, an insightful nurse placed the ill baby with her sister in one incubator. Very soon, the healthier twin placed her little arm over her sick sister, tenderly embracing her. Not only did the smaller twin’s heart rate stabilized, but her temperature normalized as well! Both babies survived and thrived! As a result, this hospital changed its policy and now puts twins together in the same incubator – warmer, as they were in the womb.
Whoever said, “A hug a day keeps the doctor away” must have understood the power of a hug and a loving touch. They help to take away pain, promote sleep, relieve stress, strengthen family relations, boost the body’s immune system, fight against disease, take away depression and more. Hug as an expression of love, heals.
Many researches have already been done about the healing wonders of love. One study seems to indicate that a lack of love is an almost certain recipe for health problems and early death. A Swedish study followed seventeen thousand men and women aged twenty-nine to seventy-four for six years. Those most lonely and isolated had almost four times the risk of dying prematurely during this period.
A Duke University research led by Dr. Redford Williams, which studied almost fourteen hundred men and women who underwent coronary angiography with severely blocked coronary arteries, found that five years later, 50 percent of those who were unmarried or had no confidant were dead. They were more than three times as likely to have died as those who were married or had a confidant. Other studies indicate that people who are shown affection are less likely to see a doctor or feel sick. They also report a zest for life, love for work, and a sense that their existence is meaningful.
In his book, Love and Survival, Dr. Dean Ornish states, “Our survival depends on the healing power of love, intimacy, and relationships… I have found that perhaps the powerful intervention is the healing power of love and intimacy, and the emotional and spiritual transformation that often result from these. Love and intimacy are at the root of what makes us well, what causes sadness and what brings happiness, what makes us suffer and what leads us to healing.”
It has been said that, “the greatest human need is to be loved”. Once a person feels loved, this produces not only the physical healing but also the emotional healing as well. No one can claim that nobody loves him for there is Someone who loves everyone. He even gave the life of His son to express His love (John 3:16).
I wish I can cite more studies to prove the healing wonders of love, but my column space won’t permit this. So, I will just share with you what I got from the Internet site, Tommy’s Windows. May you experience healing from this message
of God’s love:
Health and Lifestyle Magazine 