Can true love help heal a sick heart?

AThe ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle believed that the heart was the command center of the body and soul. Not just a mechanical blood pump, but the seat of emotion and intellect. Modern science has ended up reallocating these latter functions to the brain. Yet the heart clung to its reputation as the headquarters of love.

Today, scientists are studying whether love can actually affect heart health, promoting healing when things go wrong. Scientists at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute examined a dozen randomized controlled trials evaluating couples interventions for heart disease. These trials, published through May 2025, involved more than 1,400 patient-partner pairs. Instead of focusing solely on the patient, these programs engaged their partners to capture data and improve lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, medication management and stress.

Involving intimate partners made a difference: More than three-quarters of studies showed that couples’ interventions were more effective than patient-only interventions in getting patients to make healthier choices, like quitting smoking, continuing to exercise, or taking medications correctly.

Read more: »Can you die from a broken heart?»

But the signal went out when it came to the actual heart results: Sometimes they improved, and sometimes they didn’t. The effects on mental health were also mixed. Some studies have shown a reduction in depression or anxiety in patients and their partners, but many have found no significant differences. And the quality of relationships did not change in the three trials that measured it. The results were published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.

This discrepancy in results is part of the problem, scientists say. Outcomes did not improve across the board when couples were recruited to participate in this effort, because not all relationships are equal. The quality of relationships makes a difference and should be the focus of future work, they suggested.

“Considering the well-established literature highlighting that relationship quality impacts heart health, it is surprising that such a limited number of studies have targeted relationship quality in their interventions,” said co-author Heather Tulloch, a psychologist at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, in a statement. “Sometimes heart disease brings couples together, but it often poses a challenge to the relationship and to both people in it. We have learned over the years that cardiac events don’t just happen to the patient, but also to the couple.”

For cardiac rehabilitation, they offer a “stepped care” approach: brief relationship education for even the most devoted partners, targeted relationship-improving support for struggling couples, and referral to specialist couples therapy when distress is more profound.

The takeaway is less “love heals the heart” and more “healing is rarely a solo sport.” Partners can be powerful advocates in the everyday choices that keep hearts beating regularly. But if we want the relationship itself to become healthier, it must be treated as part of the patient.

“To improve heart health, we need to treat the patient’s heart and nurture the relationship,” Tulloch said.

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Main image: Anatolir / Shutterstock

• Kristen French

  Published on December 16, 2025

  Kristen French is an associate editor at Nautilus. She has worked in science journalism since 2013, reporting and writing articles and news for publications such as Wired, Backchannel, The Verge, And New York Review. She holds a master’s degree in science journalism from Columbia University.