Close X
Thursday, November 14, 2024
ADVT 
Health

A Hug A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

IANS, 18 Dec, 2014 12:40 PM
    It may not be a far-fetched idea to replace apple a day with a hug as researchers have found that more frequent hugs protect stressed people from getting sick.
     
    The team from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) found that greater social support and more frequent hugs protected people from the increased susceptibility to infection associated with being stressed and resulted in less severe illness symptoms.
     
    "We know that people experiencing ongoing conflicts with others are less able to fight off cold viruses. We also know that people who report having social support are partly protected from the effects of stress on psychological states, such as depression and anxiety,” said Sheldon Cohen, the Robert E. Doherty University professor of psychology at CMU.
     
    Cohen and his team chose to study hugging as an example of social support because hugs are typically a marker of having a more intimate and close relationship with another person.
     
    They assessed the perceived social support and frequency of hugs in 404 healthy adults by a questionnaire.
     
    The participants were then intentionally exposed to a common cold virus and monitored in quarantine to assess infection and signs of illness.
     
    The results showed that perceived social support reduced the risk of infection associated with experiencing conflicts.
     
    Hugs were responsible for one-third of the protective effect of social support.
     
    “This suggests that being hugged by a trusted person may act as an effective means of conveying support and that increasing the frequency of hugs might be an effective means of reducing the deleterious effects of stress,” said Cohen.
     
    The research appeared in the journal Psychological Science.

    MORE Health ARTICLES

    Fatty Foods May Harm Men More Than Women

    Fatty Foods May Harm Men More Than Women
    Women who love fatty foods can take solace from a study that suggests gorging on high-fat meals may make men more vulnerable to diseases than women.

    Fatty Foods May Harm Men More Than Women

    Enterovirus D68 Kills BC Man With Asthma

    Enterovirus D68 Kills BC Man With Asthma
    VANCOUVER - A young man from Metro Vancouver is the first known fatality in Canada linked to the enterovirus D68 infection.

    Enterovirus D68 Kills BC Man With Asthma

    UN Document Admits WHO Badly Fumbled Response To Ebola

    UN Document Admits WHO Badly Fumbled Response To Ebola
    In a draft document, the World Health Organization has acknowledged that it botched attempts to stop the now-spiraling Ebola outbreak in West Africa, blaming factors including incompetent staff and a lack of information.

    UN Document Admits WHO Badly Fumbled Response To Ebola

    A new drug to soon better treat heart attack

    A new drug to soon better treat heart attack
    Some scar-forming cells in the heart have the ability to become cells that form blood vessels required to boosts the heart's ability to heal after an injury...

    A new drug to soon better treat heart attack

    Females sex hormone key to warding off lung infections

    Females sex hormone key to warding off lung infections
    Females have been known to be naturally more resistant to respiratory infections than males. Now, scientists have shown that the increased resistance to....

    Females sex hormone key to warding off lung infections

    Parkinson's disease progression may be reversed

    Parkinson's disease progression may be reversed
    The substances called deacetylase inhibitors could fully restore movement problems observed in fruit flies carrying the LRRK2 mutation....

    Parkinson's disease progression may be reversed