Can a hug keep infection at bay? When we feel bad, the hug of a loved one or a good friend helps us lift our spirits; we feel better. Now, a new study carried out by a team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA) claims that not only can it improve our emotional state, but it can also protect us against viruses.
The hug plays a protective role of our body (such as against the common cold) and, the more we hug, the more protected we will be against infections . To reach this conclusion, the experts had 404 healthy adults who completed a questionnaire designed to determine the social support they perceived. In addition, during the following 14 nights, the participants held telephone interviews with the researchers, in order to discuss their conflicts with others and the hugs they had received.
Following this, the subjects were deliberately exposed to a common cold virus and quarantined while scientists assessed signs of infection and illness. They found that participants who claimed to have greater social support in their discussions or conflicts were less likely to be infected by the flu virus; furthermore, hugs were responsible for around a third of this protective effect against infection. In the same way, those who reported a greater amount of hugs and greater social support from family or friends, showed much less severe symptoms than the others.
“We have proven that the perception of social support is equally effective in protecting against infections because it protects us from susceptibility to stress-induced infection. In the same way, receiving hugs could partly explain those feelings of support and protect a person against infection, ”explains Sheldon Cohen, leader of the study.
The study, which has been published in the journal Psychological Science , shows that people who have social support seem to be more protected from the psychological effects of stress, such as anxiety and depression, which make us more vulnerable to infections .
