Adult Attachment and Health

In a TED talk, Dr. Gillath indicated that the way to happiness goes through love. The #1 predictor of happiness is loving someone and being loved in return. This also impacts one’s health and longevity. Without this level of attachment, one’s health can negatively be impacted even more adversely than can occur with smoking, heavy drinking, inactivity, or obesity. Adult attachment can be described as a strong emotional tie that bonds you to another individual. It doesn’t require marriage or living together; it does require reciprocal connection, communication, sense of security, and trust with a minimum of characteristics involving anxiety, worry, and avoidance. In other words, it is a two-way street. One person can love another and not even tell the individual about it. Achieving adult attachment that positively impacts your health and longevity, however, requires ongoing connection to enhance the attachment. More tomorrow.