In this era of social distancing and depressing news, we could all do with a good hug. Now scientists have analyzed what makes the perfect cuddle — do not squeeze too tight.
A team from Japan’s Toho University measured the calming effect on infants of hugs of different pressures, and when given by strangers compared with from parents.
By monitoring the heart rate of the infant and using pressure sensors on the adult’s hand, the researchers assessed the baby’s reaction to just being held, a hug with medium pressure and what they called a “tight hug.”
Photo: AP
The results, published in the journal Cell, showed that babies were soothed more by a medium-pressure hug than just being held, but the calming effect decreased during a “tight” hug.
The researchers kept the length of the hug to 20 seconds, as “it was almost impossible to avoid infant’s bad mood during a one-minute or longer hold or hug,” the study said.
For infants older than 125 days, the calming effect was greater when receiving a hug from a parent than from a female stranger.
So, the perfect hug is considered to be medium pressure from a parent, the scientists said.
Infants are not the only ones who feel the benefits of a comforting hug, the research showed.
Parents also exhibited significant signs of calmness while hugging their child.
It is known that a hormone called oxytocin, sometimes known as the “love hormone,” is released during close physical contact, but the researchers said the time period of their hug experiment was too short for this to play a role.
The scientists believe their research is the first time the physiological impact of hugging infants has been measured, and say their work should advance knowledge of parent-child bonding and child psychology.
There could also be an application in the early detection of autism, researcher Hiromasa Funato said.
The research centers on the various sensory inputs received during a hug — this is what alters the heart rate, Funato said.
“Children with autism spectrum disorder [ASD] have difficulties in sensory integration and social recognition,” he said.
“Therefore, our simple hug experiment might be utilized in the early screening of the autonomic function [that regulates unconscious bodily processes], sensory integration and development of social recognition in infants with high familial risk for ASD,” he said.
SUPPORT: Elon Musk’s backing for the far-right AfD is also an implicit rebuke of center-right Christian Democratic Union leader Friedrich Merz, who is leading polls German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took a swipe at Elon Musk over his political judgement, escalating a spat between the German government and the world’s richest person. Scholz, speaking to reporters in Berlin on Friday, was asked about a post Musk made on his X platform earlier the same day asserting that only the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party “can save Germany.” “We have freedom of speech, and that also applies to multi-billionaires,” Scholz said alongside Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal. “But freedom of speech also means that you can say things that are not right and do not contain
Two US Navy pilots were shot down yesterday over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident, the US military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in over a year of US targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Both pilots were recovered alive after ejecting from their stricken aircraft, with one sustaining minor injuries. However, the shootdown underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become over the ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis despite US and European military coalitions patrolling the area. The US military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the
Pulled from the mud as an infant after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and reunited with his parents following an emotional court battle, the boy once known as “Baby 81” is now a 20-year-old dreaming of higher education. Jayarasa Abilash’s story symbolized that of the families torn apart by one of the worst natural calamities in modern history, but it also offered hope. More than 35,000 people in Sri Lanka were killed, with others missing. The two-month-old was washed away by the tsunami in eastern Sri Lanka and found some distance from home by rescuers. At the hospital, he was
MILITANTS TARGETED: The US said its forces had killed an IS leader in Deir Ezzor, as it increased its activities in the region following al-Assad’s overthrow Washington is scrapping a long-standing reward for the arrest of Syria’s new leader, a senior US diplomat said on Friday following “positive messages” from a first meeting that included a promise to fight terrorism. Barbara Leaf, Washington’s top diplomat for the Middle East, made the comments after her meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus — the first formal mission to Syria’s capital by US diplomats since the early days of Syria’s civil war. The lightning offensive that toppled former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8 was led by the Muslim Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in al-Qaeda’s
RSS