Francesco Cro is a psychiatrist at the Department of Mental Health, Viterbo
The embrace of a loved one soothes any pain. This intuitive and apparently trivial statement is confirmed in a study by Lorestan University of Medical Sciences in Khorramabad, Iran. The research, conducted by pediatricians coordinated by Siavash Beiranvand, an anesthesiology professor who had already demonstrated the analgesic action of meditation and prayer in the past, involved 120 children between 2 and 6 months of age undergoing intravenous injections.
As hypothesized by the researchers, being hugged and caressed by the mother significantly reduces the duration of babies crying and the physiological and behavioral signs of pain response.
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In childhood
But the need to be embraced does not end with childhood, and the restriction of interpersonal contacts that we have been forced into since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic negatively affects the quality of life at all ages: just think of adolescents, discovering love and the body of the other, or to the elderly, often alone at home or hospitalized in structures that are not always organized to facilitate physical encounters with family members.
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A consoling gesture
On these and other issues, the point is taken on January 21st on the occasion of the Day of the hug.
The hug is one of the most significant gestures that we can give or receive throughout our life: it serves to receive or give consolation and protection, to express the joy of joining or the pain of detachment, it can have great erotic value or express simple affection. , can overcome the barriers of sex, age and social status; it can mean friendship and respect but also possession and submission.
The love
We hug each other when we love each other but also when we fight: hugging a person certainly means recognizing his importance for us and involving him in our physicality.
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It favors the bond between people
During a hug, our body reacts to the presence of the other with a series of physiological manifestations: concentrations of oxytocin rise, a hormone which, in addition to facilitating labor and breastfeeding, promotes the bond between people and reduces aggression , blood pressure and the production of cortisol (stress hormone, increased in case of depression), as well as enhancing the female orgasm.
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Full of endorphins
The hug also increases the levels of endorphins, substances that reduce the perception of pain and induce a feeling of well-being. Hugging each other looking in the eyes also allows two people to tune their state of consciousness, especially through the stimulation of the right brain hemisphere, more involved in the emotional and affective response, thus strengthening their bond.
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This simple and often overlooked or underestimated gesture can and must be cultivated in interpersonal relationships, even overcoming reluctance or embarrassment, because it is good for both those who give it and those who receive it.
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