Dr. Sean Mackey, chief of Stanford’s Division of Pain Management, is senior author of a study that found that in the early stages of love “pain messages were reduced in intensity before they even reached the brain,” and that brain MRIs showed that brain areas activated were exactly the same areas activated when pain relieving drugs were used.
Can we bottle those heady fleeting feelings of early love? Probably not, and it is natural that the dizzy, passionate feelings of new love mellow with time. But the researchers are looking closely at loving relationships, and hope to find out more about how to help the brain fight pain with love. “Holding hands does it,” and so might “vividly recalling their happiest memories with their loved one.”
During this Thanksgiving week, let’s try to recall the feelings of love we might have (or have had) with a parent, spouse, child or friend. It just might make us feel a little better.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/22/DDS11GA5TG.DTL