Hug Therapy for Immune Health Many new perspectives on health have come to light in recent years. The concept of hug therapy has recently been brought to the forefront through a new Carnegie Mellon University study. The study suggests that receiving consistent hugs can ease stress and help to combat the immunological effects of stress. This makes hug therapy potentially beneficial for those who suffer conditions caused by chronic stress like Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS).
Lack of Social Support and Illness One of the best ways to examine the effects of social support on sicknesses and recovery, and how this relates to hug therapy, is to look at how the natural stress response system works. The system through which the body responds to stress is called the NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) Stress Response. This response starts with the first signals in the brain and causes the hormonal and eventually physical responses associated with stress. This system can also have an effect on the immunological system of the body. In other words, being stressed can make you more susceptible to infection and illness. This increased risk for sickness and infection is mainly due to the internal inflammation and poor nutrient absorption associated with stress. Some of the ways to manage this stress involve enlisting social support. The study by Carnegie Mellon University took 404 healthy adults and studied the level of interpersonal conflicts in their lives and how many hugs the participants got during a 14 day period. Then the participants were exposed to a common cold virus and spent time in a quarantined environment where their physical conditions were monitored. The study found that there was a reduced risk of infection for those individuals who perceived social support when they experienced conflicts. The protective effect of the social support had approximately a 30% correlation with the hug therapy a person experienced. Further, there was no tie between having interpersonal conflicts and benefiting from the positive effects of hugs. This means that even if there were several conflicts that an individual was experiencing, hug therapy still reduced the risk of illness and infection. This is important because, in the past, the importance of social support has not been adequately considered in the medical community. It can have major effects.