Your Stress & Recovery Might Depend on This Relationship Behavior
Key takeaways
- Author: Ava Durgin May 06, 2026Assistant Health Editor By Ava Durgin Assistant Health Editor Ava Durgin is the former Assistant Health Editor at mindbodygreen.
- According to research published in JAMA Psychiatry1, the combination of physical intimacy and oxytocin, the neurotransmitter often nicknamed the “love hormone,” may actually help the body heal faster.
- To test whether intimacy can shift physical recovery, researchers recruited 80 healthy romantic couples and brought them into the lab for a series of tightly controlled experiments.
Why this matters: practical guidance grounded in recent research or expert insight.
Author: Ava Durgin May 06, 2026Assistant Health Editor By Ava Durgin Assistant Health Editor Ava Durgin is the former Assistant Health Editor at mindbodygreen. She holds a B.A. in Global Health and Psychology from Duke University.Image by Michela Ravasio / Stocksy May 06, 2026Most of us think about intimacy as something that strengthens emotional connection. But a new study suggests it may do far more than that.
According to research published in JAMA Psychiatry1, the combination of physical intimacy and oxytocin, the neurotransmitter often nicknamed the “love hormone,” may actually help the body heal faster.
To test whether intimacy can shift physical recovery, researchers recruited 80 healthy romantic couples and brought them into the lab for a series of tightly controlled experiments.