A hug reduces stress, anxiety, symptoms of depression…
Receiving a hug from someone you love always feels good. The hug offers a feeling of comfort at the end of a stressful day, it consoles during a moment of depression, it reassures when we doubt… But this physical contact could well have more importance for health than we think so according to a Dutch study published in the journal “Nature human behavior“.
Its authors conducted a large-scale analysis exploring the effects of tactile interventions between humans. They reviewed more than 200 studies involving nearly 13,000 people to highlight the factors influencing the effectiveness of touch. “A key question of our study is to identify which type of touch works best” explained Professor Julian Keysers, director of the laboratory responsible for the study. According to his team’s observations, touch significantly improves physical and mental well-being. It is particularly effective in reducing the perception of pain, anxiety, symptoms of depression and stress by reducing the level of cortisol, the stress hormone. Even more so among people whose mental health is fragile. And it doesn’t matter how long the contact lasts. According to researchers, a prolonged massage would be as effective as a quick hug in doing good. On the other hand, there is one thing that matters more than the others.
This is the frequency of the hug. The more often a tactile intervention is offered, the greater its impact. It is therefore better to receive hugs regularly, even brief ones, than a longer but rare hug. Researchers have also shown that physical contact via objects or robots also has benefits. “Many people need to improve their well-being, for example because they are alone and our results show that a tactile robot or even a simple weighted blanket has the potential to help them.” rejoiced Frédéric Michon, another author of the study. The researchers hope that their observations will guide future research to study, for example, the effects of touch in animals and in specific clinical contexts such as in autistic patients.