Holding Hands for Healing

In "A Simple Show of Hands," The New York Times (October 5, 2006) documents changing attitudes toward hand-holding. It seems that in our sex-saturated modern world, this venerable custom has fallen into decline. No surprises there. But buried deep in the article, we find this tasty bit:

James Coan, an assistant professor of psychology and the neuroscience graduate program at the University of Virginia, has studied the impact of human touch, particularly how it affects the neural response to threatening situations, and said the results of a recent study were more dramatic than he expected.

“We found that holding the hand of really anyone, it made your brain work a little less hard in coping,” Dr. Coan said, adding that any sort of hand-holding relaxes the body.

The study, which will be published this year in the journal Psychological Science, involved 16 couples who were rated happily married based on the answers in a detailed questionnaire. The wives were put inside an M.R.I. machine and were told they were to receive mild electric shocks to an ankle. Brain images showed that regions of the women’s brains that had been activated in anticipation of pain and that were associated with negative emotions decreased when their husbands reached into the machine.

“With spouse hand-holding you also stop looking for other signs of danger and you start feeling more secure,” said Dr. Coan, who led the study. “If you’re in a really strong relationship, you may be protected against pain and stress hormones that may have a damaging effect on your immune system.”

Perhaps it is why so many people crave it.

Great news, isn't it? Holding the hand of "just about anyone" enhances feelings of peace and security, protects against pain and stress, and may even protect the immune system.

Now here's something to puzzle over: what if the "just about anyone" we held hands with were ourselves? In the absence of a partner, might we achieve the same effect by holding our own hand? You see, that's more or less what we do when we practice "The Main Squeeze," a powerful daytime relaxation technique that's part of the Sounder Sleep System.

Here's a guided exercise for any reader who would like to give it a try. Let me know what you discover!