Have you heard that old song where Johnny Lee sings, “I’m lookin’ for love in all the wrong places”?  He sings about the importance of finding love. With Valentine’s Day and Heart Health Month both falling in February, we are reminded that love, or lack of it, can make a big difference in life. Today, we’ll talk about Valentine’s Day, how love affects the human heart and some right places to find love.

What comes to mind for you when you think about Valentine’s Day? Maybe you think about what you’ll do for your “special Valentine” this year. Maybe you reflect on memories of past Valentine’s Days. Remember when we made Valentine cards and brought candy to school? That probably doesn’t happen today. Perhaps images of boxes of chocolate and Valentines with red hearts come to mind.

We thought it might be interesting to share some facts about being in love and also about the heart. First, here are some facts about how looking for love, and finding it, can have positive effects.

• A happy heart promotes having a healthy heart. Studies show that having a loving relationship with someone has a positive impact on your physical and emotional health. One could say that love is in the pair.
• Love can help to ease chronic pain. Researchers at Stanford found that loving feelings can have the same response in the brain as painkillers, without the potential harmful side effects.
• Love and a sense of humor go well together. Couples who laugh together were found to be more supportive of each other and happier than other couples.
• Loving can help save money on medical expenses. People in loving relationships tend to have fewer doctor visits and shorter hospital stays. They also tend to heal from injuries quicker than those who are in unhappy relationships.
• Love helps you be more empathic. Love helps stimulate emotional intelligence, feelings of selflessness and emotional intelligence. Thoughts go beyond self to center on the other person and what can be done to help them.
• Love can help you to live longer! People in loving marriages tend to live longer, on average, than those who never get married.  Also, people in loving relationships typically are healthier.

The heart is an incredible organ of the body.  Here are some interesting facts about the heart that you may not know.

• Your heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood each day! Can you imagine!
• The heart beats about 115,000 times a day! What a workhorse!
• Most heart attacks happen on a Monday. Could it be because it’s the start of the workweek?
• Christmas is the most common day of the year for heart attacks to happen.
• If an adult’s blood vessel system were stretched out, it would extend almost 100,000 miles! That’s about four times around the earth! Seems impossible, doesn’t it?

These facts about love and the heart seem quite amazing. We can see that taking care of relationships so you have love in your life can also be very helpful for your heart.

So, where can we look for love in the right places to help our heart health? Of course, people think of having a loving spouse or partner. Yes, that’s wonderful, but there are many ways to experience relationships that provide love and connection. Sometimes love comes from family members but it can also come from friends and neighbors who care.

Sometimes love is felt from having pets, especially dogs or cats. If pets aren’t possible, even loving and caring for plants or the birds outside can help bring feelings of being less isolated and more needed. Loving someone, or something, can contribute to a sense of purpose and increased joy. A Swedish proverb says. “Shared joy is double joy; shared sorrow is half sorrow.”

What about you? How will you celebrate Heart Health Month and Valentine’s Day? We encourage you to be lookin’ for love in all the right places and that includes looking at yourself. Even if you’re alone, make a special dinner, watch a good movie and celebrate you! As you lovingly care for yourself, and others, you and your heart can be even happier and healthier by finding love in all the right places!

Chanhassen MN residents, Doug and Lynn Nodland are success coaches and owners of The Balance Center in Excelsior. Contact them at WeCare@TheBalanceCenter.com

© Doug and Lynn Nodland 2021 Articles and videos may be shared in their entirety with attribution.