Over the years, countless musicians have penned songs about love. They’ve created moving melodies and crooned lyrics that state their hearts beat solely for their other half. But did you know that there could actually be some truth in this?
According to a study from the University of California, when you’re in love your heart really does beat for your romantic counterpart (well, it beats at the same rate as your partner’s anyway).
Emilio Ferrer, a psychology professor, found that couples who were connected to heart monitors tend to get their heart rate and their breathing in sync when they spend time together. In most cases, they weren’t even aware that this was happening to them.
Freaky or romantic? What do you think?
“We’ve seen a lot of research that one person in a relationship can experience what the other person is experiencing emotionally, but this study shows they also share experiences at a physiological level,” said Professor Ferrer.
Does your heart beat in time with your partner’s?
The researchers also found that when two individuals who were not in a romantic relationship were hooked up to monitors together, their hearts and breathing did not automatically fall into sync.
The interesting thing that this study revealed was that it was us womenfolk who subconsciously tend to adjust our heart and breathing rates to those of our partners.
“…we found that women adjust in relation to their partners,” said Jonathan Helm, one of the authors of the study.
“Her heart rate is linked to her partner’s. I think it means women have a strong link to their partners – perhaps more empathy,” he added.
