Alternative Health Blog

Here’s news you can use. Well, news we can all use.

New research published in the professional journal Pscyhosomatic Medicine shows couples can reduce individual stress by being more physically affectionate with each other. The primary form of reducing stress and improving the personal health of your partner is touch.

Volunteers couples in the Brigham Young University study participated in “warm touch enhancement” training and practiced the technique in their homes. The recommended home time involved three to four 30-minute sessions each week for a month. What the BYU scientists found is the simple-touch method increased levels of oxytocin, known in popular media as the “love hormone” while reducing levels of alpha amylase, a marker for high stress. Both oxytocin and alpha amylase can be measured with saliva samples.

The simple-touch method used in this study, says lead author Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, is "non-sexual, caring physical touch, such as hand-holding, hugs and sitting or lying 'cuddled up.’ ” Now, what needs to be added here at the Alternative Health Blog is nobody is saying there is anything unhealthy about marital sex (of course not), just that if any of these hugs, cuddling or holding of hands leads to sex, great and, if not, great too.

The couples in the study were divided between a “Couple Contact Enhancement” group and a control group only monitored for stress levels while keeping mood journals. The enhancement group learned about "listening touch." In this technique—are you listening, guys?—you increase awareness of your partner’s mood by touching her neck, shoulders or hand. The couples also learned neck and shoulder massage, which seems like a pretty good place to start your own couple enhancement program.

After just one week, the couples in the simple-touch group showed increased oxytocin levels compared to no change for the control group and the elevated status stayed that way over four weeks. Plus, the group members’ stress hormone measure was significantly lower than the control group participants over the four weeks.

Interestingly, blood pressure for men in the touch group was reduced for men (no significant difference for women) compred to males in the control group. The BYU researchers wrote "our data suggest that partner contact may be particularly cardioprotective for men."

Now that’s getting to the heart of the matter for cuddling up on the couch this winter.

Bob Condor blogs for American Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.