Hug Me! Hugging, Social Support Linked to Better Health

Hugging each other a little more can actually contribute to better health. It may sound strange to some people but a new study proves that constant hugging lower the possibilities of becoming sick due to stress.

It is not surprising that high level of stress can have a great effect to a person's health. It weakens the immune system until you started getting infected with different infection and diseases.

Furthermore, a person with a good social support system is less likely to get affected by stress.

In a report gathered by US News, a new study from the team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found out that having a strong social support can protect a person from getting ill while under heavy stress.

The study was conducted because they wanted to see if hugs are an effective support system that could help people under stress from not getting sick.

"When you're hugging or cuddling with someone, [he or she is] stimulating pressure receptors under your skin in a way that leads to a cascade of events including an increase in vagal activity, which puts you in a relaxed state," told Tiffany Field, psychologist and director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine.

According to the study's lead author, Sheldon Cohen, constant hugging can lower the chance of getting colds, which is a common illness for people under stress. She added that, when you hug a person, it makes the feel secure. It gives a sense of intimacy and care that a person under stress needs.

Cohen, who is also a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, said in a statement reported by Fox News Health that their goal is to determine whether perceived social support system can protect someone from illness.

"We tested whether perceptions of social support are equally effective in protecting us from stress-induced susceptibility to infection and also whether receiving hugs might partially account for those feelings of support and themselves protect a person against infection," Cohen said.

The study was concluded after 400 healthy participants volunteered to answer questionnaires given by the researchers during the 14 consecutive days of the research. They were then monitored closely by the researchers after exposing them to common colds.

They discovered that hugs, as a part of social support, can definitely ease a feeling of a person until he recovers from tremendous stress and, in the process, it keeps them away from any illness.