We are in the thick of the flu season. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that the flu activity in the United States peaks between the months of December and February. According to health experts, this year’s flu vaccine was based on the A-H3N2 virus strain that originated in Texas. However a more resistant strain of flu that surfaced in Switzerland, a little later, began to spread across the world, rendering this year’s flu vaccine (in the United States) only 23 percent effective. The CDC, however says, “While some of the viruses spreading this season are different from those in the vaccine, vaccination can still provide protection and might reduce severe outcomes such as hospitalization and death.”
Whether you choose to take the flu shot or not, there is a more pleasant way to keep the flu at bay. It turns out that a simple hug, even just one hug a day, might keep the flu away. An aww-inducing December 2014 study done by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University discovered that hugs could help the participants in the study stay well, even when they were directly exposed to cold and flu viruses. The study was based on the premise that people experiencing ongoing conflicts were more susceptible to catching the cold and other viruses. The researchers chose to study hugs as a modality because they had a hunch that hugs packed a powerful anti-disease punch in two ways.
- Hugs indicated social support
- Hugs involved touch.
The study recruited 400 people and assessed their levels of social support based on their answers to a questionnaire. For two weeks the participants were asked two questions.
- Have you been hugged today?
- Are you experiencing conflict or tension with people in your life?
The researchers then arranged for a week-long hotel stay for the participants and gave them nasal drops that were dripping with either the flu or cold virus. They were monitored daily for symptoms during the hotel stay.
The results of the study showed that even though everyone in the study was exposed to one of the two viruses, only 78 percent of the participants got infected, and only 31 percent actually got sick and presented physical symptoms of the illness! And even among the one third of the participants who got sick, the ones who got hugged had less severe symptoms than the people that did not.
Commenting about the study results in a Time magazine write-up about the study, lead researcher Seldon Cohen said, “There’s a lot of evidence out there suggesting that touch might be really effective at protecting people from stressors,- it’s a communication to people that you care about them, and that you have a close intimate relationship with them.”
Previous studies have demonstrated that hugs have the ability to reduce anxiety and other psychological conditions. The Carnegie Mellon study is one of the first ones to show that hugs work on physiological conditions too. It has been said that hugs are universal medicine and that the effects of one last long after you let go. So go ahead, add hugs to your flu protection arsenal, along with washing your hands frequently, eating nourishing meals and exercising. I have a hunch that embracing hugs (pun intended) will do much more than protect you from the flu, whether it is the A-H3N2 strain or the deadly Switzerland strain or some other deadlier future strain. Hugs will not only not discriminate between flu strains, they will also help heal every malaise, past or present, real or perceived, physiological or psychological.
Sources:
- CDC; What you should Know for the 2014-2015 Influenza Season
- Mercury News; Deadly flu season spurs some Bay Area hospitals to restrict visitors
- Time; Here’s How Hugs can Prevent the Flu
- Association for Psychological Association; Hugs Help Protect Against Colds by Boosting Social Support
- Quotegraden; Hugs
- Image Credit; Freedigitalphots.net
