How Relationships Affect Health And Wellbeing

Whether you’re enjoying the first flushes of a new relationship after meeting on a date service, or have enjoyed a committed partnership for some time, there is so much more to being in love than a feeling of contentment. Relationships can have a profound effect on your overall health in so many ways.

Positive mental health

Of all the ways that relationships can affect anyone’s health and wellbeing, positive mental health is one of the most far-reaching. There are many reasons why being in the relationship can improve your mental outlook, but the evidence of this phenomenon is borne out by statistics. Repeated surveys have revealed people within a committed partnership enjoy much better mental health than those living on their own. Factors such as having a close confidante to share any problems with are undoubtedly key to this.

Alleviating stress

Being in a relationship can be an excellent way of countering stressful feelings. Single people who are fixating on finding a partner often fret about their situation. Whether they are concerned about their physical appearance or aspects of their personality they feel might be hindering their success rate, being single does have a lot of negative factors when it comes to seeking partners. For those within a committed relationship, stress levels will tend to be much lower.

The benefits of closeness

Closeness itself has been proven to have a beneficial effect for the parties involved. One of the reasons for this is physical contact will actually encourage the body to produce higher levels of oxytocin, a hormone that will ease any sense of anxiety and improve your mood. This doesn’t even have to be a full-blown sexual experience – although this will obviously exacerbate the sensation. A simple hug is all it takes to help lower blood pressure.

A good night’s sleep

One of the most fundamental aspects of a healthy lifestyle is enjoying a good night’s sleep. Again, there is ample scientific evidence that people who are in a relationship tend to enjoy much better sleep patterns. It goes without saying that having regular sexual relations, involving a degree of energetic physical activity, followed by prolonged periods of relaxation and unwinding, will promote natural sleep patterns. For the singleton who is sleeping alone, without the comfort of someone to spoon and release those oxytocin chemicals, there is a higher likelihood of broken sleep.

Weight gain

One negative aspect of being in a relationship in terms of wellbeing is contentment and happiness can also bring about a certain degree of weight gain. People who are looking for date ideas will often suggest enjoying a dining experience together. Whether that’s cooking meals in the house, complemented by wine, or actually going out to enjoy a feast at the restaurant of choice, the active social life prompted by a comfortable relationship can lead to extra pounds being piled on.

On the other hand, being in a relationship can also be conducive to countering the negative effects of overindulgence. If you do decide to go on health kicks or nutritional diets, having someone there to encourage you, especially when your enthusiasm starts to wane, is far better than attempting to do it alone.

Alcohol, drugs, and smoking

Another aspect of health within a relationship is that a lot of couples are less likely to be overdoing their intake of alcohol, cigarettes or recreational drugs. It seems obvious that single people are more likely to be overindulging in any (or all) of these activities as they head into town every other weekend to visit bars or nightclubs while searching for a partner.