Here is a good reason to put the dishes in the big ones and treat yourself to a candlelit dinner tonight! A study conducted by researchers at the University of Lund, Sweden, has just shown that eating by candlelight is not only romantic, but it is also excellent for your heart rate.
For this study, Dr. Christina Isaxon selected 13 couples and placed them in turn, in two different rooms, monitoring their heart rate. In one of the rooms, the couples breathed the ambient air while in the second room, they breathed an air containing concentrated candle smoke (but the candles were not visible so as not to distort the results) .
Our heart rate is constantly changing. Our heart beats faster when we inhale than when we exhale. And the researchers found that by breathing in the smoke from the candles, the “guinea pig” couples saw their heart rate slow down.
According to Dr. Isaxon, it is the tiny particles of sodium and potassium that, along with soot, make up candle smoke, that may be responsible for the beneficial effects of a candlelight dinner. This study, carried out for his doctorate, did not highlight any negative effects on the health of candle smoke, even if the doctor recognizes “not to see really looking for it”. However, for his study, Dr. Isaxon used candles that are popular in Scandinavian countries and made from pure stearin, a natural fat, not paraffin wax candles. The latter, while being the most common, are indeed singled out by some doctors as being responsible for asthma attacks. For your candle-lit dinners, the doctor recommends using candles that are as natural as possible (stearin or beeswax) and avoiding the fragrances and dyes that some decorative candles can give off.
