Study finds that contact with a loved one can reduce stress: NewsTarget.com

Brain scans of happily married women experiencing stress show they get immediate relief holding their husbands' hands, according to a study published in the December 2006 issue of the journal Psychological Science.

In the University of Virginia study, entitled “Lending a Hand: Social Regulation of the Neural Response to Threat,” 16 married couples with relationships judged to be strong were observed.

The women's brain waves were measured through functional magnetic resonance imaging as they were confronted with the threat of electric shock while holding the hand of their husband, an anonymous male stranger, or no hand at all. The stress levels were reduced most significantly while the wives held the hands of their husbands, and the couples with marriages judged to be the strongest showed the biggest impact during the experiment.

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Study finds that contact with a loved one can reduce stress

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