London - Need to have a difficult conversation with your other half or your boss? It might be a good idea to take them out to dinner.
We get on better with each other over a meal, according to researchers who said it makes everyone from work colleagues to children seem more pleasant.
Dutch and Canadian scientists asked nearly 100 men and women to fill in a questionnaire every time they spent at least five minutes talking to someone else.
About a fifth of the 1,000 meetings recorded took place over a meal, the journal Physiology and Behavior reports. On these occasions participants felt happier and more relaxed, whether at home, at work or elsewhere.
They also believed that the person they were with was warmer and more likeable. And hierarchies broke down between bosses and employees and adults and children.
One possible explanation is that chewing raises levels of the ‘feel-good’ brain chemical serotonin.
It is also possible that shared meals enhance our inbuilt desire to be accepted and to please others.
Marije aan het Rot, of the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, said that tricky topics might be best tackled over a meal.
Daily Mail