When holding hands appeared to relieve his wife鈥檚 pain during the delivery of their daughter, postdoctoral pain researcher Pavel Goldstein was inspired to learn more. 鈥淚 wanted to test it out in the lab: Can one really decrease pain with touch and, if so, how?鈥�
The resulting study showed that holding hands, as Goldstein and his wife did, can synchronize breathing, heart rate and brain wave patterns. And the more those brain waves sync, the more the pain diminishes. Goldstein鈥檚 team also found that when one partner was in pain and the comforting partner couldn鈥檛 provide a loving touch, the coupling of their brain waves diminished.
鈥淵ou may express empathy for a partner鈥檚 pain, but without touch it may not be fully communicated,鈥� Goldstein says.
Principal investigator
Pavel Goldstein
Funding
Binational Science Foundation
Collaboration + support
Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab; University of Haifa; Institut Pasteur
