Some like caresses, kisses and hugs, while others avoid them as much as possible. Yet touch has powerful emotional power. A German study, published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, claims that physical contact greatly reduces pain, depression and anxiety.
The research team behind this study came to this conclusion after analyzing the findings of more than 130 international studies involving a total of 10,000 participants. “We were aware of the importance of touch as a therapeutic practice. But despite numerous studies on the subject, we still do not know how to use it optimally, nor what effects we can expect from it and what the determining factors are.“, explains Dr. Julian Packheiser, who teaches at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at the Ruhr University in Bochum, in a press release.
Physical contact has been shown to be beneficial for adults and children. But, in the case of infants, it is important that they interact physically with their parents. Parental arms are much more soothing and comforting than those of any other individual. “Their touch is more effective than that of a healthcare professional“, underlines Dr Helena Hartmann, co-signer of the study.
In adulthood, the virtues of tactile contact are no longer correlated with the emotional ties that unite us to the person who touches us. Thus, hugging a stranger contributes as much to increasing the body's defense capabilities as hugging a friend.
Even more surprising, researchers have found that objects also have the power to evoke a feeling of comfort and well-being. Physical contact with stuffed animals, body pillows or even social robots is beneficial to us, even if it cannot replace that with flesh-and-blood humans.
Everything suggests that touch is essential for good health. And this, whether friendly, romantic or platonic, with a loved one, a stranger, an animal or a stuffed animal. Kissing, cuddling and kissing are not only pleasant: they help maintain our mental and physical balance.
But there is no need to engage in long embraces to benefit from the thousand and one virtues of touch. “It is wrong to say that the longer the physical contact lasts, the better. Shorter but more frequent contacts prove more beneficial“, says Julian Packheiser, co-author of the study. “Even a little hug has a positive impact“. It would therefore be a shame to deprive yourself of it.
