That saying “happy wife, happy life” may actually be true, according to new research. A new study finds that your partner’s good mood can lift your spirits and make you feel happier as well.
After analyzing data on 321 couples from Germany and Canada, a team of researchers found:
- When one person was feeling happier than normal, it decreased their partner’s levels of cortisol - the stress hormone.
- This was true even when the partner wasn’t in a great mood to begin with.
- The effect was even stronger in couples who had been together for a long time and reported having higher levels of relationship satisfaction.
- And the best part? The reverse isn’t necessarily true, meaning the researchers didn’t find that someone’s bad mood rubbed off on their partner and raised their partner’s cortisol levels.
Lead study author Tomiko Yoneda, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California - Davis, believes the findings suggest that older couples in committed, long-term relationships find ways to protect each other from the effect of negative emotions. “Having positive emotions with your relationship partner can act as a social resource,” she explains. “Relationships provide an ideal source of support, especially when those are high-quality relationships, which may be particularly important in older adulthood.”
Source: NY Post
