I once suggested that no prison should be created without a plan for providing love, and no prisoner should be sentenced without it being determined how love was going to be provided him or her.
I will now say that of cardiac hospitals, and of cardiac care. Every ICU unit should have love as one of its cornerstones for treating the patient.
In the 1970s, researchers fed a large group of rabbits a high-fat diet, studying the build-up of fatty deposits in their arteries. All subgroups of the rabbits were of the same breed and were fed the same amounts. But, results from one subgroup had 60 percent less build-up.
The researchers were baffled. How can all the rabbits be of the same breed, get the same food and yet the one subgroup far outperform the others? As they tried to break it down, they realized the group with less build-up was being fed by a researcher who talked to to the rabbits, coddled them and petted them. I do not know if her name made it into the scientific study published in the June 27, 1980, Science, but it probably did. Still, she should receive greater recognition. That love has such an astounding affect on the heart was a discovery that she might have provided. Perhaps, there were earlier studies, but doing a google search, I found none.
Since then, studies have determined those with strong marriages have fewer heart problems. And, researchers have noticed that in Okinawa -- where people live longer than other places -- they have low-stress environments accompanied by strong social support from family and community.
Would love result in 60 percent fewer deaths from heart failure, matching the 60 percent cleaner arteries in the rabbits? Probably nowhere near. Still, it might be that love's benefits are under estimated. I don't know how many studies have been done, but it seems there should be more.
Love makes the world go round, and in all likelihood, it keeps you on that spinning orb a little longer.
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