Valentine gift

The best gift you can give your Valentine is sharing a romantic poem. By Arthur C. Brooks. Illustration of two people reading a book together ...

And what if the object of your affection is a hot mess? [found](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0033079) that hearing ideas right before sleeping results in better recall than if they are heard during the day—so if you want your sweetheart to remember that your love is “ [like a red, red rose](https://poets.org/poem/red-red-rose),” the later you tell them that, the better. The perfect Valentine’s Day poem depends on the characteristics of your relationship. [showed](https://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/fulltext/2008/11000/influence_of_a__warm_touch__support_enhancement.4.aspx) in 2008, hand-holding can calm several stress-sensitive systems in the body. [intimate magic](https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2023/02/book-recommendations-couples-friends-read-together/673027/) to being read to by someone you love, and scholars are starting to understand why. Put together all the science, and you’ll arrive at the perfect Valentine’s Day gift: Read your partner poetry of love while holding their hand, until they fall asleep. [How to Build a Life](https://www.theatlantic.com/projects/how-build-life/)” is a column by Arthur Brooks, tackling questions of meaning and happiness. Now you are more likely to see a couple silently reading two copies of the same newspaper across the breakfast table from each other than one reading to the other. For example, researchers in Israel played a tone to sleepers while releasing a particular smell, and [found](https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.3193.epdf?sharing_token=8PpOKhJdHS-jLfvUKbVg69RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0P1z3mMF43oIEMsf9vln392_oyW4zDm4QKPsM6GKMWa6LowKjXaN1sM93CFFoDNcc2WV6fNXDJVJcBDrcW5Y4EXXXhA2y__HJ0gHOQZ5iXs1RX2Jc4cEYYV9732l5d4E_KQM0QK1V7GVSJX4diKRzm3i6JwvvMd2rUetZKNrkj7Df9nnzU1WO3R9bbAEq3eHtpHZv5PGNWSImFtiM7ro_a1&tracking_referrer=www.livescience.com) that the participants still expected the smell when the tone sounded during their waking hours. For a truly personal touch—something you won’t find on any shelf—reading poetry to your beloved can turn a tired holiday into a bespoke performance of your affection. To paraphrase [Elizabeth Barrett Browning](https://poets.org/poem/how-do-i-love-thee-sonnet-43), [the problems with gift-giving](https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/12/bad-gifts-presents-receiving-happiness/672534/) quite like Valentine’s Day.