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All You Need Is Love: Hugs Might Be The Best Cure For The Common Cold

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The more hugs you get, the less likely you are to get sick, a new study found.

A Carnegie Mellon research team, led by psychology professor Sheldon Cohen, asked 404 adult volunteers how much conflict they face in their daily lives, along with how often they get hugged and receive some sort of intimate support.

Cohen said,

We know that people experiencing ongoing conflicts with others are less able to fight off cold viruses.

We also know that people who report having social support are partly protected from the effects of stress on psychological states, such as depression and anxiety.

The participants were then given a common cold virus so the team could observe whether they became infected and how severe their symptoms were.

The participants who reported receiving more hugs showed the least signs of illness, regardless of how many interpersonal problems they regularly experienced.

The team inferred the most frequently hugged participants were also the least stressed, making them less susceptible to infection as stress has previously been proven to weaken the immune system.

Cohen said,

This suggests that being hugged by a trusted person may act as an effective means of conveying support and that increasing the frequency of hugs might be an effective means of reducing the deleterious effects of stress.

The apparent protective effect of hugs may be attributable to the physical contact itself or to hugging being a behavioral indicator of support and intimacy.

So, it seems all the worries in the world won’t bring your body down as long you’re getting hugged.

And if that’s not enough to cheer you up, this study just happens to have been federally funded.

Guess they just want us to replace weed with hugs.

Read more: http://elitedaily.com/news/world/hugs-cure-colds/890336/

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