Researchers analysing the relationship between giving and receiving love found expressing love to others leads to people to feeling more loved and fulfilled while improving their wellbeing.
The study involved 52 participants who completed surveys on their feelings and acts of love six times a day for four weeks. They had to rate how much love they had expressed and how much they felt loved on a scale from 0 to 100.
The results showed that when the participants had expressed more love, they felt more loved.
The researchers from Pennsylvania State University said: “We found that increases in expressing love led to increased feelings of being loved over time; however, increases in felt love did not lead to increases in expressing love.”
The participants were also asked about their happiness and whether they thought they were flourishing.
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The researchers said: “Notably, participants who experienced more persistent feelings of love (that is, greater inertia over time) indicated higher levels of flourishing.
“These results suggest new avenues for psychological well-being interventions which target increasing loving feelings through encouraging more expressions of love.”
They added: “Let’s spread more love in the world by expressing love throughout our daily lives.”
The study was published in the journal PLOS One.
