A hug really beats stress… but if you’re just a woman –

If you’re feeling stressed about your job, a quick hug from your partner may be your natural reaction.

But now scientists are saying that tenderly hugging your partner really helps you get rid of stress.

This is because a hug can buffer the body’s natural response to stressful situations, even if it takes only a few seconds.

However, it seems that only women can benefit from it. No apparent stress-reducing effects were observed in men.

German researchers said this may be due to women finding hugs “significantly more pleasant” than men.

In response, they produce more oxytocin. As it is known, the love hormone helps to reduce the levels of stress hormones in the body by interfering with the production of cortisol.

Experts said their findings, based on 76 couples, show that “social contact can act as a buffer against stress.”

A study of 76 couples in Germany found that hugging a partner seconds before a stressful situation lowered levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The graph shows cortisol levels in women (top chart) and their male partners (bottom chart). Half of the participants were told to hug (purple dots) before completing the stress test, and the other half were told not to hug (pink dots). Only women seem to be able to benefit from it (the purple dots subside at 15 and 25 minutes after the test). No visible stress-reducing effects observed in men

Previous research has shown that massages, holding hands and hugging, as well as lovingly talking to a partner, can reduce stress in women.

Few studies have looked at the effects on men if only hugging can fight stress.

Researchers from the Ruhr University Bochum in Germany studied couples aged 19 to 32.

This is because hugging a partner has been shown to elicit a stronger positive emotional response.

A stress induction test was administered to all participants in which they were asked to hold one hand in an ice water bath for three minutes.

They had to make eye contact with a camera for three minutes.

For the test, half of the couples were asked to hug. They were left in a room for 20 seconds to give a “natural hug experience”.

The researchers measured indicators of stress, including cortisol levels, through a questionnaire of saliva samples, blood pressure, and moods before and after the experiment.

The results, published in PLO ONE, show that women who hugged their partners had lower cortisol levels after activity than those in the control group.

The team suggested that the presence and support of others, particularly through touch, “may act as a buffer against the physical stress response.”

However, there was no association between pampering and stress in men.

Researchers have suggested that this may be due to the fact that men produce less of the love hormone oxytocin after cuddling.

Higher oxytocin levels have been linked to a decrease in cortisol production, so men’s stress levels are not affected by cuddling if it doesn’t activate oxytocin.

The study did not look at oxytocin levels. But previous research has shown that women perceive touch as “significantly more pleasant” than men and release more oxytocin in response.

“Therefore, mutual hugs may have elicited higher levels of perceived pleasure and therefore higher levels of oxytocin release in women than in men, which may explain the perceived difference,” they said.

The researchers noted that there was no association between other indicators of stress, such as blood pressure and emotional state, in huggers.

The findings suggest that a brief hug with a romantic partner may be a “very convenient method in everyday life” to reduce the cortisol response for women who are faced with stressful situations such as exams, job interviews or presentations.

They said future studies should explore whether hanging out with platonic friends lowers stress levels.

The researchers also wanted to investigate whether Covid restrictions that reduced physical contact were causing increased stress and depression during the pandemic.