How affectionate are you? Did you know that feeling love, affection, or the emotion that comes with protecting someone or something rejuvenates you, gives you health and vitality, and that the benefits are measurable? Conversely, not experiencing this range of emotions, besides sapping life of meaning, can lead to depression, illness, and premature aging, since the body, in the latter case, literally has no reason to regenerate itself?

When the renewing energy of love circulates through your veins, it is immediately noticeable in your gait, your appreciation for life, your tone of voice, and the sparkle in your eyes. Additionally, levels of immunoglobulin A (IgA), the antibody found in saliva, tears, and other secretions, increase in the body. This antibody is our first line of defense against invading pathogens and an important measure of the health of our immune system.

The above holds true even if the affection is directed toward a pet—those of us who love animals deeply understand this type of affection. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Maryland found that one year after being hospitalized for heart disease, the average mortality rate among patients who owned a pet was one-third that of those who did not.

Boost your immune system naturally  

In 1980, Harvard University psychologist David McClelland showed a group of people a video of Mother Teresa, which inspired their caring and compassion for the sick. After watching it, the viewers' IgA levels were measured and an immediate increase was found. In other words, feeling compassion and caring had a measurable effect on their immune systems.

Later, researchers at the HeartMath Institute, led by Rolling McCraty, replicated the experiment to see if the same thing happened when self-generating emotions of caring and compassion—without any external stimulus. The results were astonishing: the participants' IgA levels rose by an average of 41 percent. After one hour, the levels returned to normal, but continued to rise slowly over the next six hours.

McCraty and her team also showed that self-generating caring emotions for five minutes causes IgA levels to rise more than watching a video of Mother Teresa.

A week later – as narrated in the book The HeartMath Solution–, the same participants were asked to spend five minutes recreating in their minds, as best they could, the feeling of anger or rage caused by an event in their life, and their IgA levels were measured again.

With anger, there was an immediate 18 percent increase, but one hour later, IgA levels dropped far below their initial levels. Six hours later, they still hadn't returned to normal. This means that it only takes five minutes of anger to damage the efficiency of our immune system for more than six hours! Isn't that incredible? The body has a hard time regaining balance once anger is triggered.

I invite you to consciously feel and focus on the emotions of love, affection, and protection toward humans or animals. The power these feelings have to significantly boost your immune system, rejuvenate, and give you health and vitality is incredible. I ask you again:

How affectionate are you?