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Love well, live long – Metro US

Love well, live long

Showing your loved one how you feel can be good for your health.

It seems nothing gives the heart muscle a workout quite like love. Studies have shown that women in a happy marriage are much less likely to have risk factors associated with heart disease than their lovelorn friends.

Sex, we know, is good for the heart, too: Men who have sex two or more times a week cut their risk of cardiac arrest in half.

Even kissing and hugging have health perks: Kissing increases saliva production, which reduces the bacteria that cause gum disease (a proven contributor to heart disease); hugging stimulates the release of the bonding hormone oxytocin, and lowers blood pressure. Need any more excuses?

– Best Health is now on newsstands. For more Best Health, visit www.besthealthmag.ca