Many women and men enjoy holding hands just as a form of affection, but most of us also realize that it can be a great source of comfort. However, a fairly new study indicates that when a woman holds her husband’s hand when confronted with a fearful or stressful situation, doing so can literally reduce her anxiety. It actually shows up on brain scans!
It was a limited study, observing sixteen couples, conducted by Dr. James Coan this past December. Dr. Coan is a neuroscientist with the University of Virginia. His study is titled “Lending a Hand: Social Regulation of the Neural Response to Threat.” It appeared in Psychological Science in December.
Coan threatened sixteen women with electro shock and then measured brain waves with a functional MRI, to observe patterns of those holding hands with a husband, an unknown male, or not holding hands at all.
The married couples were evaluated first and those chosen were from happy marriages. Not surprisingly, women in strong marriages felt the most comfort from holding hands with their husbands. As mentioned, this was a very limited study, and the effect on the men was not recorded or studied.
Coan hopes to continue with further, similar studies and plans to include those in relationships that are not viewed as being as happy as the ones in this study. He believes that even those in relationships that are not the closest will still show some benefit from holding each other’s hands, although he states he isn’t sure to what degree this might occur.
While this study will likely be discounted by some due to its limitations, I don’t think most people will be very surprised by the results or find them too questionable. It makes perfect sense that the touch of a loving spouse would comfort the other and help reduce anxiety.
The State of Marriage can affect the State of Health