Dating Is Good for the Soul

Dating isn't just a road to marriage--it's spiritually good for you, too.
Feeling unlucky at love? Having trouble trusting partners -- and yourself -- after falling in and out of love? Been hurt enough to think youíd be better off single? Well, here are some reasons to reconsider dating and to give love another chance:

1. Dating is good for your heart and your coronaries. A study pioneered by Dean Ornish, M.D., revealed that of a group of people undergoing coronary angiography, those who felt loved had substantially less blockages in their heart arteries.

2. Giving love and support keeps you younger. Whereas feeling loved may help your heart, studies have shown that giving love appears to reduce the effects of aging. It may have something to do with the fact that giving love increases your sense of self-worth.

3. Aloneness easily worsens. When you're alone in pain, it frequently crosses over into suffering. When you're alone in fear, it's easy to panic. When youíre alone in anger, rage is not far away. As upsetting as pain, fear and anger can be, suffering, panic and rage are significantly more stressful.

4. Talking and connecting with another person releases your endorphins. Just as exercise releases endorphins, so too does exercising your social muscles by dating. Throw in a whole bunch of other chemicals that are triggered, including prolactin, adrenalin and PEA (phenylethylamine), and you may never need prescription meds again.

5. Love is a natural antidepressant. Being in a loving relationship releases dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. Dopamine and norepinephrine are the bodyís natural stimulants. Serotonin is the bodyís natural anti-worry chemical (it is the one increased by taking Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil).