Women who hugged their partner subsequently had a lower stress-induced cortisol response - Neuroscience News

Summary: Women who hug their partner before a stressful event have a lower biological stress response and decreased cortisol levels compared to women who don’t hug their partner.

Source: PLOS

Women who were instructed to hug their romantic partner before going through a stressful experience had a lower biological stress response — as evidenced by levels of the stress hormone cortisol in saliva — compared to women who did not hug their partner.

This effect was not seen in men. Gesa Berretz of Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE†

In some situations, social touch can act as a buffer against stress. Previous research has shown that massages, hugs combined with handholding, and hugs combined with loving communication can all reduce signs of stress in women.

However, few studies have examined these effects in men, nor have they examined the effects of short hugs on their own.

To investigate possible stress-reducing effects of hugging, Berretz and colleagues conducted an analysis of 76 people in romantic relationships.

All participants underwent a stress-inducing test in which they were asked to hold one hand in an ice water bath for three minutes while they were observed and maintained eye contact with a camera. Prior to this test, half of the couples were instructed to hug and the others were not.

The researchers measured several indicators of stress before and after the experiment, including the participants’ salivary cortisol levels.

Statistical analysis showed that women who hugged their partner had a lower cortisol response to the stress test than women who did not hug their partner. However, in men, no associations were observed between hugging and stress-induced cortisol response.

Other measures of stress, including changes in blood pressure and emotional state, showed no associations with partner hugging.

In some situations, social touch can act as a buffer against stress. Image is in the public domain

These results suggest that a brief embrace with a romantic partner may subsequently reduce the cortisol response for women faced with stressful social situations, such as school exams, job interviews or presentations. Further research could examine whether this benefit extends to hugs with platonic friends.

The authors also call for research into related effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such studies could examine whether social restrictions that reduce social touch might be related to perceived increases in stress and depression during the pandemic.

The authors add, “As a woman, hugging your romantic partner can prevent your body’s acute stress response.”

About this stress research news

Writer: press office
Source: PLOS
Contact: Press agency – PLOS
Image: The image is in the public domain

Original research: Open access.
“Romantic partner embrace reduces cortisol release after acute stress induction in women but not in men” by Gesa Berretz et al. PLOS ONE

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Abstract

Also see

Romantic partner embrace reduces cortisol release after acute stress induction in women, but not in men

Stress is ubiquitous in our daily lives. It is therefore critical to identify potential stress-buffering behaviors that can help prevent the negative effects of acute stress in everyday life.

Massages, a form of social touch, are an effective buffer against both the endocrinological and sympathetic stress response in women. However, for other forms of social touch, potential stress-buffering effects have not been studied in detail.

In addition, the possible stress-buffering effects of social touch on men have not been studied to date.

The current study focused on embracing, one of the most common forms of social touch in many cultures. We used a short embrace between romantic partners as a social touch intervention prior to the induction of acute stress via the socially evaluated cold pressor test.

Women who hugged their partner before being stressed showed a reduced cortisol response compared to a control group in which no hugging took place. No stress buffering effect could be observed in men.

No differences were observed between the hug and control groups with regard to sympathetic nervous system activation measured by blood pressure or subjective affect ratings.

These findings suggest that in women, short hugs prior to stressful social situations such as surveys or stressful interviews may reduce the cortisol response in that situation.

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