Science confirms what the heart already knows: hugs really help you feel better | New

Feel in the dumps? Stress? A little offbeat because of a disagreement?

Hug it out! A new study suggests that just touching and touching a person – in a consensual way – can reduce the negative feelings associated with the ups and downs of our social interactions.

The study from the psychology department of Carnegie Mellon University, published this week in PLOS ONE, examined the social interactions of more than 400 people for two weeks. A summary of their daily activities, their states of mind and their physical interactions revealed a causal link between emotional states, conflicts and the number of hugs that a person has given or received.

"The results showed that there was an interaction between receiving a hug and exposure to conflict, so that receiving a hug was associated with a smaller decrease in positive affect. conflict-related and a lower increase in conflict-related negative affect when assessed simultaneously, "the study said.

In simpler English, hugs helped people feel less bad after a kind of conflict or a negative event during their day.

In the study, this effect was observed for all genders and all ages, although females reported more hugging than men.

"Our results support the conclusion that men and women can just as easily be kissed in times of conflict," the study said.

Interestingly, it did not matter if the hugs were in a relationship at the time of the hug – the mood benefits were still valid.

The study was conducted by Michael Murphy, Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon. In the study, he argues that research could be improved by identifying exactly the type of social relationships involved in a hug – a stranger or a person with whom you were arguing, for example, as opposed to a hugging lover or hug completely. From mom.

"The lack of specificity regarding people who received hugs also limited our ability to determine whether hugs from specific types of social partners were more effective than those from others," said Murphy.

Be that as it may, there does not seem to be any problem with a consensual hug being adopted.