Reasons why people should hold hands.
Over the years I have found that the fastest, most meaningful way to show you’ve got somebody’s back and are showing them some support is by grabbing hold of their hand. The physical contact is almost as reassuring as a hug, but it’s much more discrete, portable and dynamic. And, it’s not something that happens every day, so it displays caring that’s a little deeper and a little more meaningful whether it’s done romantically or in a Platonic way.
1. Less Stress! There was a study involving subjecting 16 happily married women to stressful situations while monitoring their brain activity with an F.M.R.I machine. After administering an electric shock to each woman, they measured the resulting activity in the stress response area of her brains. Then repeated the shock while the women held a stranger’s hand. And then again while holding her husband’s hand.
The results showed less activity in the stress-related areas of the women’s brains even while holding a stranger’s hand, and a whole lot less stress when they held their hubby’s hand. So it appears to make us feel less stressed because it actually does make us less stressed! If happy couples do more hand-holding, and hand-holding reduces stress, and less stress leads to better health, then it can only be assumed that happy marriages lead to better health, right?
2.) It says “I love you” or at the very least “I like you” without words. Because handholding is often associated with happy memories of parents or guardians looking after children out of love, it is associated with loving a person. When you’re a child, your love for your parents tends to be one of the strongest feelings of love you’ve experienced in your young life. It is no wonder then that when these children grow up, they use this similar loving act in romantic contexts.
Handholding is an expression of closeness and connection, allowing someone in through your personal boundaries, which are important factors in love.
3.) Touch intensifies your feelings for one another. Not only is handholding an expression of closeness that says “I like you”, but it also intensifies how much you like a person.
When there is more physical intimacy there are better relationships.
4.) It says “you’re not alone”, “you’re accepted”, “you belong”. You hold someone’s hand when you want them to keep up with you as you urge them to follow, or to ensure you stick together in a crowd. You do it to connect with someone in a moment in time so that you feel that in spite of experiencing an event in our own separate bodies, you are sharing this moment together. Handholding is an act of togetherness.
It can give feelings of comfort, protection and safety as well. When we’re young, we often associate handholding with the protective action of a parent looking after us as we cross the road, or as we walk through busy areas. Holding hands represents “I’m holding onto you so that I’ll keep you safe from getting lost or getting hurt”.
Like a person who needs to be led through the dark, it represents someone being there to guide you if you ever need someone to lean on. Sometimes we need a hand to help steady ourselves as we climb through the rocky terrain of life, or to help us balance as we attempt new things. We’re comforted to have someone offer a helping hand to catch us or at least help pull us up if we fall along the way. Being in “good hands”. That is part of what handholding represents.
5.) It fulfils the basic human need for touch, which makes us feel good. The need to touch other members of your species is ingrained into us genetically. Studies have shown that touch is essential for good physical and mental health. Lack of demonstrative touch-related love has been found to be related to failure to thrive or mature psychologically in babies. Touch releases endorphin-like feel-good chemicals. Bottom-line: touch makes us feel good. Handholding therefore does too.
So the next time your loved one is upset—a sad movie, friend drama, work stress, an argument with you—for whatever reason, consider some quality hand-holding time. How To Date In The Present
Just squeeze a little squeeze into your daily routine: across the table hand-holding while the two of you are eating, while you’re in the car, at church, while you’re watching TV, or just while you’re walking somewhere together. It’s good for your relationship and your health.
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