Hug for health

Here it is…Christmas Day…and amidst all of the gift-giving, carol warbling, fruit-cake inhaling, and samurai-shopping, hopefully you are also getting and giving some hugs. Christmas itself may not be a global festival but the hug certainly is cross-cultural. What we call a “hug” (cuddle, squeeze, or embrace) the Hindus call “paas rakhna” and the Italians call “abbraciami”. We even sign off our text messages and emails with “o” to signify a hug along with an “x” to indicate a kiss; although not physically with them it is though an intended hug can express all of the multifaceted emotions that the preceding message failed to convey. The hug seems to have a powerful foothold in our psychology but it also has vigorous effects on our physical bodies as has been highlighted in a recent study.

Touch is an incredibly powerful sense. There are more than 3,000 receptors for touch in each fingertip; the universal intelligence that shapes our bodies doesn’t devote such hefty resources for no reason. Touch stimulates a chemical cascade in your body that can shape your mood and your physiology and what is a hug but emphatic touch? No wonder that a new study has found that it can have such significant effects.

For the study the researchers asked more than 400 people to complete a questionnaire that determined their social support. Additionally, the subjects took part in 14 consecutive evening telephone conversations with the researchers where they discussed conflicts they had experienced and hugs they had received. Then the subjects were exposed to a virus that causes the common cold and placed in quarantine while the researchers assessed any change in their symptoms.

The results showed that people who received more social support were less likely to develop a cold after being exposed to the virus and they established that hugs were responsible for about 33 per cent of this effect. On top this, people who did become infected had less severe symptoms if they reported getting lots of hugs.

It seems that hugs from a trusted person can boost immunity. So don’t shy away from Aunt Alice’s embrace just because of her garlic breath and uncomfortably prickly dress…that hug could be the one that keeps you infection-free and ready for some New Year’s frolics.