Researcher Paul Zak thinks so, and he’s proving it by taking blood samples from all sorts of people, from a bride and groom on their wedding day to tribal warriors in Papua New Guinea as they prepare to perform traditional rituals. He’s looking for levels of oxytocin, known as the "love chemical."
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Our brains are constantly rewiring themselves based on the events in daily life, and what we pay the most attention to is what effects them the most. This means that the way you decide to spend your time literally transforms you.
In the March 25th edition of the New York Times, Diane Ackerman writes: "All relationships change the brain–but most important are the intimate bonds that foster or fail us, altering the delicate circuits that shape memories, emotions and that ultimate souvenir, the self." And the bonds of love change the brain more than anything else.
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Mother love is important: School-age children whose mothers nurtured them early in life have brains with a larger hippocampus, a key structure important to learning, memory and response to stress.
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It doesn’t matter how old he is, cuddling and caressing are important ingredients for long-term relationship satisfaction and (surprise!) they are MORE important for men! Also contrary to expectations of researchers, men were more likely to report being happy in their relationship, while women were more likely to report being satisfied with their sexual relationship.
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