Love does the body good

My friend Adriana, who is blond and beautiful and speaks four languages (insert envy here), has been living near Marseilles since she graduated from college. She's paxée (a civil union that provides the legal benefits of marriage, established by the French government to give co-habiting couples — especially same-sex couples — equal rights under French law) and lives with a French man she met while we both studied abroad. They are, clearly, a perfect match.

Soon after they met — in the springtime, with its budding trees and sweep of clear blue sky — Adriana told me about a remarkable event. She walked home with Luc, hands interlinked, pressed close against the night's chill. A car passed them, then stopped and reversed. When the black Peugeot pulled alongside the pair, the passenger window rolled down, and Adriana could see a middle-aged couple sitting inside.

"We had to tell you," the woman in the passenger seat said, "you two look so in love."

When Adriana told me this story, I waited for the punch line. "That's it?" I asked.

"I know," she beamed. "Isn't it great?"

Only in France, I thought. But, the lady did have a point: Adriana radiated happiness. It was the aura of fresh love and, I now realize, the glow of good health.

It turns out, sources from Deepak Chopra to MSNBC are crediting romance with a boost in our immune systems. "According to folk wisdom, falling in love is the best way not to catch colds in the winter," Mr. Chopra points out in his book, "The Path to Love." He continues, "The immune benefits of love were recognized long before medical research came along to validate them."

Medical research has indeed validated the health benefits of love or, at least, its physical offshoots. In a study released by Queens University in Belfast and reported by Forbes.com, regular sexual activity is linked to higher survival rates. University researchers monitored middle-aged men over 10 years, monitoring their sexual activity and mortality rates. The men who reported the highest level of intercourse were half as likely to die during that time.

Of course, better health through relationships is no guarantee. In July 2008, Shape magazine reported the findings of a University College of London study that tracked love and health. People who reported not being content in their relationships were 34 percent more likely to have chest pains or heart attacks. The study attributed this to the chronic stress caused by romancegone wrong, which can weaken

the immune system and raise blood pressure.

So, perhaps, the answer is to seek out virtual sex without the complications of a real-life relationship? As it turns out, that can be a health-wrecker as well. Researchers in Australia have linked Internet sexual activity (which they define as searching for porn, engaging in carnal chat, or using Web cams for erotic purposes) to depression and anxiety. According to the study, the amount of time spent doing it online is directly correlated to the severity of depression.

Which just goes to show: when it comes to sex, love, and health, there's no faking it.

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