Couples are known to often share the same interests, finish each other sentences and laugh at the same jokes, but a new study has claimed that their hearts could also be beating at the same rhythm.
The team from the University of California, Davis, discovered this while they were studying the physical effects of being in a relationship.
Study leader Professor Emilio Ferrer, said that her team had seen a lot of research that one person in a relationship could experience what the other person is experiencing emotionally, but their study showed that they also shared experiences at a physiological level, the Daily Mail reported.
Her team conducted a series of experiments on 32 straight couples, who were connected to heart rate and respiration monitors.
They were then asked to sit a few feet away from one another in a quiet, calm room, where they were not supposed to speak or touch. At one point they were told to mirror each other's movements.
The data revealed that the spouses showed similar patterns of heart rate and respiration, but women tended to adjust theirs to their partners more.
The couples were then mixed up and performed the same exercises with a stranger but this time their hearts did not show synchrony, nor did their breathing match closely.
The study has been published in the American Psychological Association journal Emotion. (ANI)