UC Davis Study Shows Lovers' Heartbeats Match
DAVIS (CBS13) - In just a few days couples will show their love for each other on Valentine's Day. But how connected are you to your partner? Researchers at UC Davis say it's a lot closer than you think.
Jonathan Helm is no love doctor, but he has been studying how couples react to each other.
"As you can imagine, people in relationships have a strong influence on each other's behavior and mood," he said Monday.
That's true, but Helm also found your lovebird makes your heart skip to a different beat.
After hooking up 32 couples to his machine, Helm found a strong connection. Lovers' heart rates and breaths were in synch.
Couples we talked to agree, but say it doesn't take a study to figure that out. They say with the same interests and similar moods, it makes perfect sense their hearts beat together.
"We just don't like to be away from each other," one woman said. "We like to be together most of the time."
And couples don't have to be holding hands or cuddling for their two hearts to beat as one.
"You don't have to be engaged in a conversation to have these links show up," Helm said. "You can just be looking at them and kind of be around them."
But the big question is why does the body step in synch with the perfect partner? Helm says they don't know yet.
They're going to continue their love research on campus. The next thing UC Davis will look at is how certain heart beats and breathing patterns in those couples may provide health benefits.
UC Davis researchers also paired strangers together and looked at their heart rates, but they didn't match.
