What Makes Your Heart Pound (in a good way)

By Carrie Vittitoe

“There are benefits of romance to heart health,” says advice columnist and speaker Joyce Oglesby, and the research supports this statement. Studies have shown that people in satisfying relationships have lower risks of heart disease. Love seems to make people feel more at peace and balanced, which has a positive impact on blood pressure.



A loving relationship helps people manage their stress because they have a sounding-board, someone who they know is by their side through all the good and bad. “When romance is fresh and alive, it doesn’t matter what comes your way, you can handle it,” Joyce says.

Maintaining a romantic relationship means continuing to communicate your wants and needs. Some men and women erroneously think that romance means the other person in the relationship knows you so well that he or she can guess what you want, but romance doesn’t mean mind-reading, she says.

It is important for partners in a love relationship to maintain reasonable expectations for each other, too. Often one person in a relationship becomes frustrated because their partner doesn’t do things exactly as they would, but this is unrealistic. “You can’t put the same kind of expectations on them. They have to come up to their ability,” Joyce says.

Photo by Benjaminrobyn Jespersen on Unsplash