Physical contact: here are the benefits of hugs, massages and caresses

It could be the comforting feeling of a hug at the end of a stressful day, or an effective one sports massage. But the essence of the matter is the same: Can physical contact help us feel better? The answer from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience is: Yes. As long as it is consensual and requested, it can contribute to our mental and physical well-being.

I study

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To explore the therapeutic power of touch, some researchers from Social Brain Lab of the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and theUniversity Hospital Essen conducted a large-scale analysis of previous studies: abundant evidence suggests that physical contact increases the state of mental well-being, acting on anxiety, depression and stress, but also helps reduce pain. And those who have health problems, and therefore have a greater need for support, benefit even more from it.

“A key question of our study was interpreting the hundreds of available studies to identify what type of touch worked best,” he explains Christian Keysersdirector of Social Brain Lab. “What if we don’t have a friend or partner nearby to hug us? Would even the touch of a stranger or a machine help? And how often? The study clearly shows that physical contact can be optimized and what really matters may surprise us.” The discovery was, in fact, that the person who touches us, the way he does it and the duration of his touch do not make a big difference. A prolonged massage from a therapist could therefore be just as effective as a quick hug from a friend. Rather, what matters is the frequency of contact: the more often a contact is offered tactile interventionthe greater its impact on our well-being. A fleeting hug could therefore be much more effective than a massage (in terms of mental well-being), if offered more often.

Human or non-human touch?

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The researchers also questioned whether physical contact necessarily has to occur through a person. But it seems like Also contacts with “tactile” objects or robots can offer us a feeling of well-being. “There are many people who are lonely or in poor health, and some studies indicate that a tactile robot, as well as a simple weighted blanket, have the potential to help them,” the researchers admit. However, the benefits of contact with robots and objects are predictably smaller. And disorders such as anxiety or depression could therefore favor human contact “perhaps suggesting the importance of an emotional component associated with touch”.

And the animals?

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“It would be useful to see if the touch of a pet can improve the state of well-being and, vice versa, if he/she also benefits from it, but there are not sufficient or adequately controlled studies to be able to draw conclusions in this regard”, clarifies one of the co-authors of the study, Frédéric Michon.

Children and adults

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When the impact of physical contact in newborns was examined, scientists have discovered that even the youngest children benefit from it in terms of well-being. However, the benefits of touch were greater if it was performed by a parent rather than a healthcare professional. “This discovery could have a significant impact,” the researchers admit. “Mortality rates due to premature births in some countries and the knowledge that a newborn can benefit more from contact with its parent offer another, easily implementable form of supporting the child’s health.”

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Conclusions

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Therefore, the physical contact really seems to have a great therapeutic power, but many of its effects are yet to be explored. “We hope – conclude the authors of the study – that our deductions can direct future research towards less in-depth questions. For example, contact with animals, but also the action of touch at various ages of life and in clinical contexts specific subjects, such as autistic patients, has not yet been studied as it would have deserved.”