Your Brain on a Rom-Com

So <i>that's</i> why that Ryan Gosling flick gave you all the feels.

The best-ever excuse to admit you're a sucker for sappy stories: They're ace for your health. Here's how the plot unfolds...

The Meet-Cute

• Feel a little thrill at the would-be couple's first run-in? The actors' body language determines how you interpret the scene. Staring into each others' eyes? Ahh, love. Trying to stare into each others' eyes but ogling elsewhere? Oh yeah, lust.
• Awkward conversations (or sassy monologues) aren't just funny. They help out your ticker. Belly laughing can lower blood pressure as much as exercise does (and can burn 40 calories per 10 minutes!).

The Buildup

• Your brain's empathy center is now activated and ordering a release of hormones such as dopamine and oxytocin, which make you feel as if you are the one falling in love. Cue butterflies in your stomach or a faster heartbeat.
• Seriously, you really feel it. Studies suggest that when the (so-hot) hero strokes the (way-gorg) heroine's arm, the area of your brain that interprets touch can light up.
• And just like that...trouble in paradise. Rom-com writers use fights and breakups to hold your attention, because strife prompts your noggin to dredge up your own romantic woes. You now totally identify with these characters.

The Happy Ending

• Problems solved. You walk away in a much better mood, thanks to a laughter-induced endorphin rush. A feel-good finale also puts the kibosh on stress hormones. In fact, watching a romantic comedy before bed can help prevent insomnia.
• The story's comical moments can imprint in your brain, allowing you to recall your fave film's dialogue whenever you want—a process that can boost your long-term memory.
• And by churning up personal issues—along with possible resolutions—the movie can prompt a cathartic release of feelings. That's why cinema therapists (yep, they have Ph.D.'s and everything) find flicks so useful: The plots can unlock reactions that might otherwise have remained buried.
• Score! One study found that couples who watched, then discussed, such films were more likely to still be a pair three years later.

Sources: Stephanie Cacioppo, Ph.D., The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine; Michael Miller, M.D., University of Maryland School of Medicine; Birgit Wolz, Ph.D., cinema therapist in Lake County, California

For more sex and health news, pick up the March 2015 issue of Women's Health, on newsstands now.

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