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One hug a day keeps the doctor away. (Thinkstock Image) & nbsp | & nbspPhoto Credit: & nbspThinkstock
We now know why we feel so much better when a family member, a friend or even a person to whom we have no dislike for us, hugs us with warmth. It is now officially established by a study of
The Department of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University has discovered a causal link between emotional states, conflicts and the number of consensual hugs that a person has given or received.
A team of researchers led by psychology professor Sheldon Cohen discovered that a cuddle a day could keep the doctor away. The results published by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dietrich have shown that increased social support and more frequent hugs protect people from increased susceptibility to infections associated with stress and less severe disease symptoms.
The University study examined the possibility that hugs act as a form of social support that ultimately protects people stressed from the disease. It has long been understood that social support protects people against the pathogenic effects of stress. The manner in which such protection might be conferred, however, has not been well understood.
A study by Carnegie Mellon University indicates that the power of a hug can boost immunity and feelings of well-being and help you recover more quickly from illness. (Thinkstock image)
The study used a sample of 404 healthy adults and examined the roles of the
perceived social support and hugs in the protection against susceptibility to infectious diseases induced by interpersonal stress. "Perceived support" was assessed through a questionnaire, and daily interpersonal conflict and hug reception were assessed through telephone interviews over 14 consecutive nights. Subsequently, participants were exposed to a cold causing virus and were quarantined to assess signs of infection and illness.
The study revealed that:
"Perceived support protected against the increased risk of infection associated with the increasing frequency of conflict." A similar effect of stress buffering appeared for hugs, accounting for 32% of the effect. There is an increase in perceived support and more frequent hugs among the infected participants, each of whom predicts signs of less severe illness, suggesting that caresses can actually provide social support. "
The Carnegie Mellon University website says that psychology professor Sheldon Cohen, who led the study, said, "We know that people with ongoing conflicts are less able to fight HIV / AIDS. We also know that people who claim to benefit from social support are partly protected from the effects of stress on psychological states, such as depression and anxiety. "
"We also tested whether perceptions of social support were equally effective in protecting susceptibility to stress-induced infection, and whether receiving hugs could partly account for these feelings of support and protect them. even a person against the infection ".
"This suggests that being hugged by a trusted person can be an effective way of providing support and that increasing the frequency of hugs could be an effective way of reducing the deleterious effects of stress." "said Cohen. "The apparent protective effect of hugging may be due to physical contact or to the fact that hugs are a behavioral indicator of support and intimacy."
"Whatever it is, those who receive more hugs are a little more protected from infection," says Dr. Cohen's website.
This research was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institute of Heart, Lung and Blood of the National Institutes of Health.
This should tell you how a hug a day can keep the doctor away. What other medications can have these desired side effects and add to the richness of your family life or friendships?
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