Through high tides and inundating stress, many people turn to their favorite activities to ward off anxiety or darker thoughts. Running, drawing, baking — whatever it is, it is meant to set off a series of neurotransmitters, returning the balance of your mental processes back to reasonable functioning. You create some “alone” time.

But in my own times of high tide and inundating stress, I put down the pen and leave the running shoes in the closet. Instead, I’m the gal who prefers to find the closest people I have to start a hugathon, cuddle-fest, snuggle session, what have you.

Many of my friends know me for coming up to them for random embraces. I’m the one who preaches, “Ya need 12 moments of human contact a day to feel like a real person.” I’d be the girl holding a “Free Hugs” sign right by the Alma Mater just to make your Mondays better. I am so in-your-face about my need for hugs in life, I’m willing to write a column about them.

This week, I’m going to give all y’all the same pep talk I give my friends about the benefits of hugging, and I’m going to argue against the personal bubble space we college students like to use to cushion us from everyone else. And I’m going to do this by talking about the biochemistry behind the hug.

Do you remember when school nurses would conduct lice checks in elementary school? Real talk: Did you enjoy the part when the nurses combed through your hair? Or how about that time you felt awesome when you were at the receiving end of a high-five? Think about your favorite games as a kid (Twister? Tag?). 

In the series of moments of human touch we experienced as kids, and even now as adults, a mechanistic pathway was set in motion, effectively hitting receptors that cause our bodies to induce the parasympathetic (stress-relieving) system. 

Researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute demonstrated exactly this mechanism using mice as models for similar human receptors in a study published this week in Nature. The team periodically stroked the mice using a paintbrush so that it was distinct from a pinching or poking sensation. In turn, they discovered that the touch activated G protein-coupled receptors, also found in hairy skin in humans. The “stroke-sensitive” neurons opened mechanotransductive pathways to anxiolytic, or anti-anxiety producing, effects. 

Additionally, the stroking sensation became a positive reinforcement for the mice to stay in place, which is somewhat like how Uncle Jesse soothed Michelle Tanner by holding her head and cuddling.

This supports a notion that everyone seems to understand already but haven’t formed in so many words. We understand the need for companionship, but especially in a collegiate community, it can be easy to forgo human contact when the insatiable appetite for “Internets and stuffs” and “alone time” is tantalizing us. Sitting in the comfort of a cushion space is easier and less risk-taking than going out of one’s way to go for a handshake or high-five.

The medical community is learning to incorporate the positive findings, like the one published in Nature, into its practices. For instance, nurses and other health care practitioners are being trained to use touch when caring for older patients, which has been found to improve their overall well-being. And even in pre-term infants, gentle human touch has been found to decreases distress and disruptive sleep.

The midterms season has yet to dawn upon us, but before it does, think about reaching out to your friends and loved ones for an embrace. By closing the gaps we leave between us and the rest of the world, we ease our stresses. “Alone time” gives your mind space to breathe, but it likely will compound the stress you feel, rather than diminish it.

Nora is a senior in LAS. She can be reached at [email protected].