[psychology] Holding Hands
Amazing Effect of Just Holding Hands
http://channels.netscape.com/love/package.jsp?floc=ns-tos-toda-h-01&name=fte/holdinghands/holdinghands
When lovers hold each other's hands, it not only has a powerful emotional effect, but also a profound physical effect--one that is so strong it can be seen in deep brain scans.
This is especially true for married people and helps explain one of social science's most enduring puzzles: why happily married men and women are healthier on average than their single friends, reports The New York Times of research from neuroscientists at the University of Virginia and the University of Wisconsin.
In what the researchers are calling the first study of how human touch affects the neural response to threatening situations, they found that when a married woman who is under extreme stress holds her husband's hand, she experiences immediate relief. And that relief is visible on a brain scan of the areas that register emotional and physical alarm. It's not just any old hand that will do. Holding a stranger's hand helped some, but there was significantly more relief from a husband's hand, and it was particularly evident in very close marriages.
The study: Sixteen couples from Madison, Wis., were recruited through newspaper advertising. Using a questionnaire about coping styles, intimacy and mutual interests, all were rated as very happily married. The women were placed in an MRI scanning machine and told they would periodically receive a mild electric shock to their ankle. All the women were noticeably apprehensive, reports The Times.
The results: The brain images showed the women's stress and worry about the impending electric shock as those regions that are involved in anticipating pain were activated; however, as soon as a woman felt her husband's hand in hers, the activity level in that part of the brain dropped dramatically. The stranger's hand also provided some comfort, but far less than the husband's hand. "The effect of this simple gesture of social support is that the brain and body don't have to work as hard. They're less stressed in response to a threat," lead author Dr. James A. Coan, a psychologist at the University of Virginia told Times reporter Benedict Carey.
Obviously, we don't want to relax too much in the face of a physical threat, but for worries that are not life-threatening, it's healthier to relax to minimize the stress hormones that course through the body. An affectionate touch--be it a hand, backrub or hug--can be deeply soothing. And it may just make you healthier.
The study findings have been published in the journal Psychological Science.
http://channels.netscape.com/love/package.jsp?floc=ns-tos-toda-h-01&name=fte/holdinghands/holdinghands
When lovers hold each other's hands, it not only has a powerful emotional effect, but also a profound physical effect--one that is so strong it can be seen in deep brain scans.
This is especially true for married people and helps explain one of social science's most enduring puzzles: why happily married men and women are healthier on average than their single friends, reports The New York Times of research from neuroscientists at the University of Virginia and the University of Wisconsin.
In what the researchers are calling the first study of how human touch affects the neural response to threatening situations, they found that when a married woman who is under extreme stress holds her husband's hand, she experiences immediate relief. And that relief is visible on a brain scan of the areas that register emotional and physical alarm. It's not just any old hand that will do. Holding a stranger's hand helped some, but there was significantly more relief from a husband's hand, and it was particularly evident in very close marriages.
The study: Sixteen couples from Madison, Wis., were recruited through newspaper advertising. Using a questionnaire about coping styles, intimacy and mutual interests, all were rated as very happily married. The women were placed in an MRI scanning machine and told they would periodically receive a mild electric shock to their ankle. All the women were noticeably apprehensive, reports The Times.
The results: The brain images showed the women's stress and worry about the impending electric shock as those regions that are involved in anticipating pain were activated; however, as soon as a woman felt her husband's hand in hers, the activity level in that part of the brain dropped dramatically. The stranger's hand also provided some comfort, but far less than the husband's hand. "The effect of this simple gesture of social support is that the brain and body don't have to work as hard. They're less stressed in response to a threat," lead author Dr. James A. Coan, a psychologist at the University of Virginia told Times reporter Benedict Carey.
Obviously, we don't want to relax too much in the face of a physical threat, but for worries that are not life-threatening, it's healthier to relax to minimize the stress hormones that course through the body. An affectionate touch--be it a hand, backrub or hug--can be deeply soothing. And it may just make you healthier.
The study findings have been published in the journal Psychological Science.