Cultivate Healthy and Loving Relationships

While codependence serves no one, working to create healthy and emotionally stable relationships in our lives does much to keep our stress levels low. In their book Feeling Good Is Good for You: How Pleasure Can Boost Your Immune System and Lengthen Your Life, Drs. Carl Charnetski and Francis Brennan point out that we are at our happiest and healthiest when we have loving people in our lives. Studies have shown that chronically lonely people have greater instances of illness, lower levels of life satisfaction, and even earlier death rates than people who have significant others in their lives. The authors write: “Do you have people to lean on, people to talk to you, people to tell you that, despite your doubts, everything will work out? That’s emotional support, and it can come from anyone—a lover, parents, other family members, friends, neighbors, acquaintances at the gym or country club, members of a church group, coworkers, the bowling league, even seemingly impersonal cyber-friends on the internet.”
Although the research is still in its infancy a growing number of studies have shown that people who are in good marriages or love relationships live longer. These individuals have stronger immune systems, have fewer hospital stays and less serious diagnosis upon admission, are less likely to die in the hospital, and are less likely to be placed in nursing homes upon discharge. Even cancer does not seem to progress as rapidly in their bodies.
On the other hand, getting out of a bad marriage or relationship has been shown to be one of the best methods for managing stress and improving your overall health and immune function. The stress of a toxic relationship can make you physically sick.