# data[].attributes.body
In an article published in the Lancet, researchers in San Diego examined the death records of 28,169 Chinese-Americans and 412,632 randomly selected white people. “Chinese-Americans, not whites, die significantly earlier than normal if they have a combination of disease and birth year which Chinese astrology and medicine consider ill-fated.” When they examined the gathered data, they concluded that the shortened life expectancy could not be explained by genetics or lifestyle choices of patients, or any other variables. If Chinese astrology predicted them to be “cursed,” then their beliefs were manifested by an early demise.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We examined the deaths of 28 169 adult Chinese-Americans, and 412 632 randomly selected, matched controls coded

# data[].attributes.body
Negative thinking can affect a person's physical health causing serious health issues.

# data[].attributes.headline
Subject expertise: Stress affects arthritis article

# data[].attributes.subject
Subject expertise: Stress affects arthritis article

# data[].attributes.body
According to the Arthritis Foundation in “How Stress Affects Arthritis,” stress plays a big role in worsening symptoms of chronic diseases. When the body is experiencing stress, the adrenal glands are stimulated and chemicals are released into the bloodstream. This results in an increase in muscle tension, heart rate, and breathing rate. Simultaneously, the immune system’s inflammatory response is triggered. Inflammation is what causes joint damage in diseases such as arthritis. To prevent stress from worsening symptoms, it is important to take steps to manage stress. The less exposure to stress, the less damage to the joints.
"Your body’s stress response triggers the release of chemicals that ready you to face the challenge at hand."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
How Stress Affects Arthritis

Managing a chronic disease affect many aspects of daily living, including emotional health . Here's what to do if you're stressed out.

Stress is a constant presence in our lives. A chronic disease like arthritis, which brings pain, high medical bills, and an uncertain future, ramps up stress levels even more. Being under stress can worsen arthritis symptoms. The best solution is to manage stress before it can undermine disease management and quality of live

How stress contributes to arthritis
Your body's stress response triggers the release of chemicals that ready you to face the challenge at hand. Your breathing quickens, your heart rate increases, and your muscles tense in preparation. This reaction is fine in the short term, but when it fires repeatedly, the increased tension in your muscles can amplify your arthritis pain. Stress also sets off the immune system's inflammatory response. Inflammation is what fuels joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), lupus, psoriatic arthritis (PsA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and other inflammatory forms of the disease. The longer you're exposed to stress, the more destructive the inflammation can become. In a PLoS One study, people with RA identified stress as a trigger for disease flare-ups.
How arthritis worsens stress
Arthritis symptoms contribute to stress, especially when they're unrelenting. Constant pain, fatigue, and poor sleep create a vicious cycle. Each symptom worsens the others and adds to the stress you already feel. When you're tired, you don't want to exercise. A lack of movement inflames your pain, which makes it harder to sleep. Worrying about future disability, getting pregnant or difficulty paying your medical bills only adds to your stress. Some forms of arthritis, including PSA, contribute to stress by their effects on your appearance. The embarrassment of trying to hide your skin plaques can be damaging to your self-image.
Coping with stress
Here are a few tips to help you manage stress:

Talk to a therapist - If stress has begun to dominate your life, you might benefit from interventions like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT helps to reframe the issues that cause you worry, and help you deal with them in a more positive way.

Get your arthritis under control - Following the treatment your doctor prescribed will relieve symptoms like pain and stiffness before they can add to your anxiety.

Exercise - When you walk, swim, or do other aerobic activities, your body releases feel-good chemicals called endorphins. Regular fitness boosts your self-esteem and mood, and combats depression and anxiety. Yoga-which incorporates movement and deep breathing-combines fitness with stress relief.

Take relaxation breaks - Sitting quietly for a few minutes and breathing deeply can put your body into a calmer state.

Stay in the Know. Live in the Yes.

Join the Live Yes! Arthritis Network. Tell us a little about yourself and you will receive emails packed with the latest information and resources to live your best life and connect with others.

Every gift to the Arthritis Foundation will help people with arthritis across the U.S. live their best life.

Join us and become a Champion of Yes. There are many volunteer opportunities available.

Take part to be among those changing lives today and changing the future of arthritis.

Proud Partners of the Arthritis Foundation make an annual commitment to directly support the Foundation's mission.

Donate

Ways to Give

Every gift to the Arthritis Foundation will help people with arthritis across the U.S. live their best life. Whether it is supporting cutting-edge research, 24/7 access to one-on-one support, resources and tools for daily living, and more, your gift will be life-changing.

Help millions of people live with less pain and fund groundbreaking research to discover a cure for this devastating disease. Please, make your urgently-needed donation to the Arthritis Foundation now!

Become an Arthritis Foundation member today for just $20. You'll receive a year's worth of Arthritis Today magazine, access to helpful tools, resources, and more.

Honor a loved one with a meaningful donation to the Arthritis Foundation. We'll send a handwritten card to the honoree or their family notifying them of your thoughtful gift.

I want information on ways to remember the AF in my will, trust or other financial planning vehicles.

Volunteer

Volunteer Opportunities

The Arthritis Foundation is focused on finding a cure and championing the fight against arthritis with life-changing information, advocacy, science and community. We can only achieve these goals with your help. Strong, outspoken and engaged volunteers will help us conquer arthritis. By getting involved, you become a leader in our organization and help make a difference in the lives of millions. Join us and become a Champion of Yes.

More About Volunteering

Live Yes! INSIGHTS

Give Just 10 Minutes.

Tell us what matters most to you. Change the future of arthritis.

By taking part in the Live Yes! INSIGHTS assessment, you'll be among those changing lives today and changing the future of arthritis, for yourself and for 54 million others. And all it takes is just 10 minutes.

Your shared experiences will help:

- Lead to more effective treatments and outcomes
- Develop programs to meet the needs of you and your community
- Shape a powerful agenda that fights for you

Now is the time to make your voice count, for yourself and the entire arthritis community.
Currently this program is for the adult arthritis community.  Since the needs of the juvenile arthritis (JA) community are unique, we are currently working with experts to develop a customized experience for JA families.

How are you changing the future?

By sharing your experience, you're showing decision-makers the realities of living with arthritis, paving the way for change. You're helping break down barriers to care, inform research and create resources that make a difference in people's lives, including your own.

Get Started

Partner

Meet Our Partners

As a partner, you will help the Arthritis Foundation provide life-changing resources, science, advocacy and community connections for people with arthritis, the nations leading cause of disability. Join us today and help lead the way as a Champion of Yes.

Our Trailblazers are committed partners ready to lead the way, take action and fight for everyday victories. They contribute $2,000,000 to $2,749,000

Our Visionary partners help us plan for a future that includes a cure for arthritis. These inspired and inventive champions have contributed $1,500,00 to $1,999,999.

Our Pioneers are always ready to explore and find new weapons in the fight against arthritis. They contribute $1,000,000 to $1,499,999.

Our Pacesetters ensure that we can chart the course for a cure for those who live with arthritis. They contribute $500,000 to $999,000.

Our Signature partners make their mark by helping us identify new and meaningful resources for people with arthritis. They contribute $250,000 to $499,999.

Our Supporting partners are active champions who provide encouragement and assistance to the arthritis community. They contribute $100,000 to $249,999.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Stress Affects Arthritis | Arthritis Foundation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How Stress Affects Arthritis Managing a chronic disease affect many aspects of daily living, including emotional health . Here's what to do if you're stressed out. Stress is a constant presence in our lives. A chronic disease like arthritis, which brings pain, high medical bills, and an uncertain future, ramps up stress levels even more.

# data[].attributes.headline
Subject expertise: The Brain: The Story of You

# data[].attributes.subject
Subject expertise: The Brain: The Story of You

# data[].attributes.body
David Eagleman's book: The Brain: The Story of You, explains how the brain is shaped by experience and is extremely adaptable to its conditions, and its plasticity allows it to open up more sensory opportunities. In learning about the brain, it is less about knowing the different parts of the brain, but their functions and how they interact.
"A human brain allows itself to be shaped by the details of life experience."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This is a very subjective question. Meaning it always depends on who you're asking. Because none of this has yet to be "proven" people will argue forThis is a very subjective question. Meaning it always depends on who you're asking. Because none of this has yet to be "proven" people will argue for whoever's research and theories they agree with. I can give you some of my own personal (and I try really hard to be objective and steer clear of opinions, but that will always have a role so that's just my warning label of sorts, ha) but because this is such a big topic today it'd help if you were more specific... do you mean subconscious mind just basically like how we make decisions, fears, etc or do you want to go deeper meaning the abnormal subconscious mind and/or subconscious mind of trauma, etc. there are so many good out there. If you want recs let me know, but another good way to find is to do a bit of research online and/or going to a book store and looking at several books that deal with your specific questions... I hope this helps! ...more (less)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is a very subjective question. Meaning it always depends on who you're asking. Because none of this has yet to be "proven" people will argue forThis is a very subjective question. Meaning it always depends on who you're asking. Because none of this has yet to be "proven" people will argue for whoever's research and theories they agree with.

# data[].attributes.headline
Special experience: Secret to old age article

# data[].attributes.subject
Special experience: Secret to old age article

# data[].attributes.body
In an interview for a local paper in January 2019, Watanabe said his secret to living so long is “Not to get angry and keep a smile on your face.” By avoiding being angry, and keeping busy with things that made him happy, he was also able to avoid the negative impacts of negative thinking on the body.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
At Guinness World Records, we celebrate all kinds of achievements and for some, that's just by living to a grand old age.

It's fascinating to see the ages people can reach, which is why this category is always a permanent feature in our annual book.

As well as the oldest people living, we have followed a number of other records broken by older people throughout the years, including the story of Harry Bidwell, the oldest person to get divorced at the age of 101 in 1980.

Oldest person ever

The oldest person to ever live and the oldest person ever (female) was Jeanne Louise Calment (b. 21 February 1875) from Arles, France who died at the age of 122 years and 164 days old.

When asked on her 120 th birthday what she expected from the future, she replied: "I expect a short one."

Born in 21 February 1875, she lived through world wars, the Spanish Flu and even met Vincent Van Gogh in 1888.

Looking scruffy and smelling of alcohol, Van Gogh purchased pencils from Jeanne's fathers shop and went on to paint his famous 'Sunflowers' in Arles.

Appearing as herself in the film Vincent and Me (Canada, 1990) at the age of 114, she is also the oldest actress.

She lived a fruitful life, taking up fencing in her 80s and continuing to cycle in her 100s, but passed away on 4 August 1997.

She claimed that her secret to long life was olive oil, port and chocolate; she gave up smoking at the age of 120.

Oldest person (living)

Kane Tanaka (Japan, b. 2 January 1903) is the oldest person living currently and the oldest person living (female) at the ripe age of 117 years and 41 days (verified on 12 February 2020).

She celebrated her most recent birthday in her nursing home in Fukuoka, Japan with some tasty cake.

Kane likes to keep her mind active, and on a normal day at the nursing home, she wakes up at 6 a.m. and in the afternoon often studies subjects such as maths.

One of Kane's favourite pastimes is a game of Othello and she's become an expert at the classic board game, often beating the staff.

Before Kane, the oldest living person (female) was fellow Japanese woman Chiyo Miyako (b. 2 May 1901), who was 117 years and 81 days old, as verified on 22 July 2018.

Chiyo passed away on the 22nd of July 2018.

Oldest person ever (male)

Since the turn of the century, 24 people have held the record for the oldest person (living) - only two have been male.

Jiroemon Kimura (Japan, b. 19 April 1897) was the last man to hold the record in 2012.

Kimura worked at the Post Office until the age of 65. His personal motto was "eat light to live long" and believed it was the key to his longevity.

He was 115 when confirmed as the oldest living person and he lived to the age of 116 years and 54 days old before passing away.

He now holds the record for oldest person ever (male).

The other male to hold the record for oldest person (living) was Puerto Rican Emiliano Mercado Del Toro (b. 21 August 1891).

He held the record in 2005 and was once the oldest living veteran after serving in the US Air Force during World War One.

Oldest person living (male)

At the time of writing, there is no current record holder for the oldest person living (male).

Guinness World Records is currently investigating record holders for this title.

The last person to hold the record for the oldest person living (male) was Bob Weighton (UK, b. 29 March 1908), who was 112 years 1 day old as of 30 March 2020.

Bob sadly passed away due to cancer on Thursday 28 May 2020. His family confirmed that he died peacefully in his sleep at his flat in Alton, Hampshire, UK.

The record was previously held by Chitetsu Watanabe (Japan, b. 5 March 1907) who was 112 years 344 days old as of 12 February 2020. He passed away on 23 February 2020.

Chitetsu said in an interview for a local paper in January 2019 that the secret to his longevity was to "not to get angry and keep a smile on your face".

Oldest married couple

Marrying on 7 February 1941, Julio Cesar Mora Tapia (Ecuador, b. 10 March 1910) and 104-year-old Waldramina Maclovia Quinteros Reyes (Ecuador, b. 16 October 1915) are the oldest married couple.

110-year-old Julio and 104-year-old Waldramina have been married for over 79 years, their relationship becoming stronger over time.

They met when Waldramina went to visit her sister who happened to live in the same building as Julio.

The oldest married couple have a combined age of 214 years and 358 days (verified 23 June 2020) - Julio was born before the RMS Titanic sank.

"Family unity under the rules of love, mutual respect, honest work, and proper education based on family values are the keys to healthy coexistence," the couple said.

Jack and Charlotte Henderson from the USA previously held this record in 2019.

"You could say that the category of oldest living person is the one record that we're all striving for, or that we at least all qualify for. Few of us, though, will make to anywhere near the exceptionally old age of 122-year-old Jeanne Calment. Indeed, more humans have walked on the surface of the Moon than have provenly reached their 117th birthday. We all have an innate fascination for supercentenarians - it's incredible to think that there are people alive today who were born before typesetting, engine-powered flight, the Model T Ford and paper towels! - and it's an honour to be able to celebrate these remarkable human beings in our books." - Craig Glenday, Editor-in-chief at Guinness World Records

How do we validate the oldest people?

Guinness World Records works with lead consultant for gerontology, Robert D Young, in the study of aging.

He has lists dating back to 1999 of the oldest people alive at the time on behalf of the Gerontology Research Group.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The world's oldest people and their secrets to a long life

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
At Guinness World Records, we celebrate all kinds of achievements and for some, that's just by living to a grand old age. It's fascinating to see the ages people can reach, which is why this category is always a permanent feature in our annual book.

# data[].attributes.headline
Essay 4: Can Negative Thinking be Detrimental to the Physical Body?

# data[].attributes.subject
Essay 4: Can Negative Thinking be Detrimental to the Physical Body?

# data[].attributes.body
The brain is constantly changing and “rewiring” itself. During your whole existence, how you think, more importantly, how you choose to think, has a significant impact on the physical self. This led me to question: Can negative thinking be detrimental to the physical body? I concluded that yes, negative thinking can be detrimental to the physical body, but it’s effects differ from person to person but what we do know is that the brain is able to rewire itself through new experiences. You can change the way you see the world, and that alone changes your health. Your perspective and having a positive outlook on life will not only help you mentally, but physically as well.

# data[].attributes.headline
Societal position: FRIENDSHIPS ARE KEY TO GOOD HEALTH article

# data[].attributes.subject
Societal position: FRIENDSHIPS ARE KEY TO GOOD HEALTH article

# data[].attributes.body
According to her UVAToday article, “‘Shocking’ New Research Finds Friendships Are Key To Good Health” Jane Kelly writes about the positive effects a good relationship can have on the body. Results from experiments conducted by psychology professor James Coan and his research team provide proof that this is true. By using special brain scanners, the effects of electric shocks on subjects in good relationships vs. bad relationships were shown. Subjects that were in good relationships were less affected by the shocks. This meant that they were less stressed during the experiment, and that being in a loving relationship is what caused that.
"When the body is under stress, the brain releases hormones like cortisol and epinephrine into the bloodstream. The trouble is the flow of those hormones removes resources from the immune system. In the long term, that cycle can lead to poor health."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
University of Virginia researchers have for the first time revealed brain imaging evidence that supports what experts have long hypothesized: that people with strong relationships report better general health than those who do not.

Researchers in professor James Coan's clinical psychology lab zeroed in on the hypothalamus, which regulates stress hormones, to reveal how the brain responds differently to the threat of electrical shock when a trusted loved one is near.

While lying in a brain scanner, subjects encountered three scenarios: Holding the hand of a relational partner, holding the hand of a stranger or holding no hand at all. In each scenario, a screen in the machine visible to the test subjects displayed a blue circle, which test subjects were told corresponded to no threat of shock, or a red 'X,' which they were told indicated a 20 percent chance that they would receive a minor shock to their ankle. Indeed, shocks were delivered 20 percent of the time.

In addition to the imaging, study participants filled out a standardized health survey in which they rated their general health. Although the survey is subjective, Coan said it correlates strongly with objective measures derived from physician reports.

"What we found was that the less active your hypothalamus was when you are under threat of electric shock in the brain scanner while you are holding the hand of a relational partner, the better general health you report," Coan said.

Nothing similar was found during stranger handholding, or while subjects faced the shock threat while alone.

"This is the first time this hypothalamus-health link has ever been reported using data from the functioning brain. The reason this is really important is that people have hypothesized, literally for decades, that we should find this, but no one has ever found this until now."

The study, which is part of a longitudinal inquiry into how relationships affect human health, involved 75 people from the Charlottesville community. Nearly 40 percent of participants were African-American; all came from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds. "One of the things that distinguishes this study is that it's fairly well representative of Charlottesville and the country," Coan said.

The researchers collected data over the course of four years. The study results are being published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

What the researchers were looking for in using magnetic resonance imaging was increased blood flow to the hypothalamus.

"The reason more blood is flowing to a structure is because that structure has eaten up a bunch of resources and it needs to be replenished," Coan said. "It's metabolized a bunch of material and it needs more food, if you will."

When the body is under stress, the brain releases hormones like cortisol and epinephrine into the bloodstream. The trouble is the flow of those hormones removes resources from the immune system. In the long term, that cycle can lead to poor health.

"When our social support system inhibits our hypothalamus' response to stress, we release fewer, potentially destructive stress hormones and have a stronger immune system," Coan said.

Previous research has shown that frayed social networks can have deadly consequences. "We have all these public service announcements about exercise and not smoking, but social isolation is more deadly than all of those things," Coan said. "The more socially isolated you are, the more likely you are to die of anything at any time, no matter where you live or what culture you inhabit."

So simple hand-holding can be very impactful.

"Having that hand to hold signals that you have resources - you have safety - so any particular stressor is just not as stressful as it might have been," Coan said.

"What we are finding here is that if our relationship is good and we are with someone we trust, we can say, 'Hypothalamus, you don't have to work as hard right now. Yeah, there is a threat, but chill out - the threat is not as threatening as if you were alone.' Your friend will help you deal with that threat; therefore you can work less hard to deal with it, and that savings will keep you healthier in the long run."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'Shocking' New Research Finds Friendships Are Key to Good Health

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Volunteer study participants who have stronger social networks coped better when threatened with pain - and reported better health overall.

# data[].attributes.body
Summary: The article, Minimizing nocebo effects by conditioning with verbal suggestion: A randomized clinical trial in healthy humans, explores the effects of placebo and nocebo effects to find a way to lower the effects of negative thinking on the body. Researchers found that the negative effects of the nocebo effect can be reversed with verbal suggestion and a positive expectation.
Quotes: “Numerous studies have found evidence that verbal suggestion, conditioning and especially the combination of conditioning with verbal suggestion can induce nocebo effects on physical symptoms”

# data[].attributes.body
From the time a baby is born, the brain starts creating neural pathways through experience. Throughout its life, the brain constantly rewires itself based on daily activities. However, the brain also remembers the synchrony between mother and child during birth. Evidence through neuroimaging show a baby’s first attachments imprinted on its brain. A person goes through life looking for that same “oneness” once felt with mother. This type of love and comfort also promotes physical well-being. The areas of the brain that register physical pain also register emotional pain. The feeling of love from healthy, supportive relationships can significantly lower neural response from pain, and allow the body to focus on healing.
"Does it also promote physical well-being? “Scientific studies of longevity, medical and mental health, happiness and even wisdom,” Dr. Siegel says, “point to supportive relationships as the most robust predictor of these positive attributes in our lives across the life span.”

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A RELATIVELY new field, called interpersonal neurobiology, draws its vigor from one of the great discoveries of our era: that the brain is constantly rewiring itself based on daily life. In the end, what we pay the most attention to defines us. How you choose to spend the irreplaceable hours of your life literally transforms you.

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.

Every great love affair begins with a scream. At birth, the brain starts blazing new neural pathways based on its odyssey in an alien world. An infant is steeped in bright, buzzing, bristling sensations, raw emotions and the curious feelings they unleash, weird objects, a flux of faces, shadowy images and dreams - but most of all a powerfully magnetic primary caregiver whose wizardry astounds.

Olimpia Zagnoli

Brain scans show synchrony between the brains of mother and child; but what they can't show is the internal bond that belongs to neither alone, a fusion in which the self feels so permeable it doesn't matter whose body is whose. Wordlessly, relying on the heart's semaphores, the mother says all an infant needs to hear, communicating through eyes, face and voice. Thanks to advances in neuroimaging, we now have evidence that a baby's first attachments imprint its brain. The patterns of a lifetime's behaviors, thoughts, self-regard and choice of sweethearts all begin in this crucible.

We used to think this was the end of the story: first heredity, then the brain's engraving mental maps in childhood, after which you're pretty much stuck with the final blueprint.

But as a wealth of imaging studies highlight, the neural alchemy continues throughout life as we mature and forge friendships, dabble in affairs, succumb to romantic love, choose a soul mate. The body remembers how that oneness with Mother felt, and longs for its adult equivalent.

As the most social apes, we inhabit a mirror-world in which every important relationship, whether with spouse, friend or child, shapes the brain, which in turn shapes our relationships. Daniel J. Siegel and Allan N. Schore, colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, recently discussed groundbreaking work in the field at a conference on the school's campus. It's not that caregiving changes genes; it influences how the genes express themselves as the child grows. Dr. Siegel, a neuropsychiatrist, refers to the indelible sense of "feeling felt" that we learn as infants and seek in romantic love, a reciprocity that remodels the brain's architecture and functions.

Does it also promote physical well-being? "Scientific studies of longevity, medical and mental health, happiness and even wisdom," Dr. Siegel says, "point to supportive relationships as the most robust predictor of these positive attributes in our lives across the life span."

The supportive part is crucial. Loving relationships alter the brain the most significantly.

Just consider how much learning happens when you choose a mate. Along with thrilling dependency comes glimpsing the world through another's eyes; forsaking some habits and adopting others (good or bad); tasting new ideas, rituals, foods or landscapes; a slew of added friends and family; a tapestry of physical intimacy and affection; and many other catalysts, including a tornadic blast of attraction and attachment hormones - all of which revamp the brain.

When two people become a couple, the brain extends its idea of self to include the other; instead of the slender pronoun "I," a plural self emerges who can borrow some of the other's assets and strengths. The brain knows who we are. The immune system knows who we're not, and it stores pieces of invaders as memory aids. Through lovemaking, or when we pass along a flu or a cold sore, we trade bits of identity with loved ones, and in time we become a sort of chimera. We don't just get under a mate's skin, we absorb him or her.

Love is the best school, but the tuition is high and the homework can be painful. As imaging studies by the U.C.L.A. neuroscientist Naomi Eisenberger show, the same areas of the brain that register physical pain are active when someone feels socially rejected. That's why being spurned by a lover hurts all over the body, but in no place you can point to. Or rather, you'd need to point to the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in the brain, the front of a collar wrapped around the corpus callosum, the bundle of nerve fibers zinging messages between the hemispheres that register both rejection and physical assault.

Whether they speak Armenian or Mandarin, people around the world use the same images of physical pain to describe a broken heart, which they perceive as crushing and crippling. It's not just a metaphor for an emotional punch. Social pain can trigger the same sort of distress as a stomachache or a broken bone.

But a loving touch is enough to change everything. James Coan, a neuroscientist at the University of Virginia, conducted experiments in 2006 in which he gave an electric shock to the ankles of women in happy, committed relationships. Tests registered their anxiety before, and pain level during, the shocks.

Then they were shocked again, this time holding their loving partner's hand. The same level of electricity produced a significantly lower neural response throughout the brain. In troubled relationships, this protective effect didn't occur. If you're in a healthy relationship, holding your partner's hand is enough to subdue your blood pressure, ease your response to stress, improve your health and soften physical pain. We alter one another's physiology and neural functions.

However, it's not all sub rosa. One can decide to be a more attentive and compassionate partner, mindful of the other's motives, hurts and longings. Breaking old habits isn't easy, since habits are deeply ingrained neural shortcuts, a way of slurring over details without having to dwell on them. Couples often choose to rewire their brains on purpose, sometimes with a therapist's help, to ease conflicts and strengthen their at-one-ness.

While they were both in the psychology department of Stony Brook University, Bianca Acevedo and Arthur Aron scanned the brains of long-married couples who described themselves as still "madly in love." Staring at a picture of a spouse lit up their reward centers as expected; the same happened with those newly in love (and also with cocaine users). But, in contrast to new sweethearts and cocaine addicts, long-married couples displayed calm in sites associated with fear and anxiety. Also, in the opiate-rich sites linked to pleasure and pain relief, and those affiliated with maternal love, the home fires glowed brightly.

A happy marriage relieves stress and makes one feel as safe as an adored baby. Small wonder "Baby" is a favorite adult endearment. Not that romantic love is an exact copy of the infant bond. One needn't consciously regard a lover as momlike to profit from the parallels. The body remembers, the brain recycles and restages.

So how does this play out beyond the lab? I saw the healing process up close after my 74-year-old husband, who is also a writer, suffered a left-hemisphere stroke that wiped out a lifetime of language. All he could utter was "mem." Mourning the loss of our duet of decades, I began exploring new ways to communicate, through caring gestures, pantomime, facial expressions, humor, play, empathy and tons of affection - the brain's epitome of a safe attachment. That, plus the admittedly eccentric home schooling I provided, and his diligent practice, helped rewire his brain to a startling degree, and in time we were able to talk again, he returned to writing books, and even his vision improved. The brain changes with experience throughout our lives; it's in loving relationships of all sorts - partners, children, close friends - that brain and body really thrive.

During idylls of safety, when your brain knows you're with someone you can trust, it needn't waste precious resources coping with stressors or menace. Instead it may spend its lifeblood learning new things or fine-tuning the process of healing. Its doors of perception swing wide open. The flip side is that, given how vulnerable one then is, love lessons - sweet or villainous - can make a deep impression. Wedded hearts change everything, even the brain.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A RELATIVELY new field, called interpersonal neurobiology, draws its vigor from one of the great discoveries of our era: that the brain is constantly rewiring itself based on daily life. In the end, what we pay the most attention to defines us. How you choose to spend the irreplaceable hours of your life literally transforms you.