If you fell as a small child, a hug from your mother or father was already a great comfort. Now it is scientifically proven that a touch can do much more.
Recent American research shows that touching and compassion can relieve pain. By empathizing with someone else who has to touch, brain waves synchronize, making the pain a lot less.
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Lead researcher Simone Shamay-Tsoory, a psychology professor at the University of Haifa in Israel:"When we share pain with another person, the same area in our brain is activated, as it were, as if you were the one who is in pain."
Various tests were performed for the study. First we looked at how a physical touch by a love partner or a stranger was experienced. It turned out that having your hand held by your partner made you feel better if you had slightly burned your skin. The more empathy from the partner, the less pain was experienced.
At the touch of a stranger did not ease the pain. The pain felt the same as if you were alone.
A scan was done to find out why the pain lessened when you were touched by someone you love. The researchers found that the brain waves of the person in pain and the partner were on the same level. The brain waves started to synchronize with each other.
So if you are in pain, do not reach for a painkiller too quickly, but let someone you love hold you….
