The new blush of love is exciting and can be all consuming. It turns out in addition it can reduce pain. Scientists at Stanford and The State University of New York at Stony Brook have been able to quantify the power of love as it relates to pain.

They took 15 students who were in romantic relationships within the previous 9 months.
They brought pictures of their significant other and a friend. When looking at the pictures they were given a painful stimulus. They also distracted the students. They found that distraction and looking at the loved one (but not looking at a friend) decreased pain but by different mechanisms. Distraction required the thinking part of the brain and love used opiate receptors to relieve pain.

Love stopped pain processing before it reached the brain. Pain reached the brain before the distraction stopped it. Love lights up the part of the brain that is triggered with cocaine or winning a lot of money.

It would be great if we could bottle that feeling, and it could happen some day. In the meantime, we might be able to access the benefits with hypnosis or guided imagery.