Traditionally, Valentine's Day is a time for expressions of love. The romantics among us send cards, give flowers and chocolates, and take time out for romantic dinners and outings. The two Valentine symbols are Cupid and the heart. No doubt, Valentine's Day is as much about commerce as romance, with men spending twice as much as women, and over one billion cards being sent across the world. But how does romance flourish during tough economic times and what is the impact on personal and workplace stress?

Yesterday, one of my colleagues asked me to guess the outcome of research in times of recession with this question: when times are tough do people prefer to buy an object or engage in a memorable time? Without knowing the specific research, I was able to choose the correct answer which is that people prefer to engage in something that makes them feel good so they can repress the feelings of gloom and pessimism that accompany tough financial times. This is not surprising as the human system has many ways to address and combat stress and tension.

What is interesting though, is how people see physical relationships during times of stress. Clearly, Valentine's Day is designed to increase romantic and sexual interactions but if this day occurs in the middle of one of the gloomiest financial times since the stock market crash of 1987, what is the effect on physical relations?

There are conflicting theories and research about the effect of sexual interest and activity during a recession. But is there a chemical basis to the sexual interest? There are three main neurophysiological chemicals that affect our behavior: dopamine, epinephrine (adrenaline), and norepinephrine. These three chemicals are involved in arousal and stress although the main chemical seen in stress situations is cortisol. One of the earliest stages of human sexual response is called libido and we talk about people having high and low libidos in terms of the level of their sexual interest. Testosterone and estrogen are two chemicals implicated in libido but a major one is dopamine.

Now, back to the research from Rutgers University. The assumption in this research is that many of the factors of workplace stress, uncertainty of employment, threatened or actual redundancy, and possible loss of income actually increase dopamine levels in the brain. Ergo, if dopamine increases, then there will be a correlated increase in romantic love and sexual interest. Leaving aside the neurochemical basis of romantic attraction it is simply logical to suggest that people want to connect with other people physically to increase security and/or to reduce stress and tension. So, this research would say that Valentine's Day, recessions, and romantic and sexual interest would interact and probably reduce personal and workplace stress.

There have been reports of very large increases in people subscribing to websites like eHarmony, Manhunt and Match, Internet dating sites. As well, there are reports of increases in sales of sex toys around the world. From a psychological point of view, though, increased stress levels typically dampen arousal and desire. If people feel uncertain, insecure, stressed, and anxious libido is negatively affected. All of these negative feelings lower one's feelings of self-efficacy and self-confidence. Both of these emotional states are important in terms of reducing performance anxiety and increasing pleasurable anticipation.

It is difficult to draw out the lesson from these two conflicting points of view but one of the constants in this analysis is the concept of stress. The events which surround us at home or in the workplace or in the larger society all affect our levels of stress. Stress makes us feel anxious, worried, distracted, and even tired. Stress affects our personal and our workplace relationships. Stress is manageable and requires us to work diligently to control and reduce our levels of stress. I would like to think in this time of Valentine's Day that enjoying each other romantically and physically is a great way to reduce personal and workplace stress and see the real value in our lives.

Source: Ezinearticles