Touching is good for you! But how long should the physical contact last? Does a robot's hug also help? A research team from Bochum, Essen and Amsterdam meta-analyzed over 130 international studies with around 10,000 participants and was able to show that touch is particularly suitable for alleviating pain, depression and anxiety. The team reports on the results in the journal Nature Human Behavior from April 8, 2024.
More frequent touch, for example, is particularly beneficial, but apparently does not have to last long. Skin contact intensifies the effect. However, touching objects with social robots, heavy blankets or hugging cushions also showed a demonstrable effect. A longer duration of touch, which averaged 20 minutes in the studies, did not significantly influence the result. “The longer the touch, the better,” summarizes Dr. Julian Packheiser from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at Ruhr University Bochum. Shorter but more frequent touches proved to be more beneficial. “It doesn't have to be an expensive, long massage,” says the researcher, “even a short hug has a positive effect.” The researchers were surprised by the positive effect of being touched by objects. Although social robots, stuffed animals, hugging cushions and many other objects scored lower than people in terms of mental factors, they still showed a measurable positive effect on physical health parameters in particular.
“For infants, however, it is important that it is the parents who carry out these touches; their touch has a better effect than that of caregivers,” reports Dr. Helena Hartmann from Essen University Hospital and research associate in the CRC. “In adults, on the other hand, there were no differences between familiar people and professional staff.” The greatest effect of touch in adults was demonstrated by the numerous studies on the mental state of the test subjects. Pain, depression and anxiety decreased significantly.
Dr. Packheiser and Dr. Hartmann's conclusion: touch that is desired improves the physical and mental well-being of people with illnesses in clinical situations as well as healthy people. Read the full study here.