Hugs May Protect Your Body Against the Common Cold

Want to prevent infection? Then try to give more hugs. Scientists have found that hugs can protect stressed people from getting sick, providing them with more social support that protect them against infection.

"We know that people experiencing ongoing conflicts with others are less able to fight off cold viruses," said Sheldon Cohen, one of the researchers, in a news release. "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. 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."

In this case, the scientists assessed 404 healthy adults, who filled out a questionnaire about perceived support. The researchers then conducted phone interviews to assess frequencies of interpersonal conflicts and receiving hugs. Then, the volunteers were exposed to a common cold virus and monitored in quarantine.

In the end, the researchers found that perceived social support reduced the risk of infection associated with experiencing conflicts. In fact, 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 apparent protective effect of hugs may be attributable to the physical contact itself or to hugging being a behavioral indicator of support and intimacy."

The findings are published in the journal Psychological Science.

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