COLDS
Hugs and the common cold
In a study of 404 healthy adults given a cold virus, people who were hugged more often had milder symptoms if they did get ill.
See the study
ASK FIRSTthen hold on
- Wanted touch only
- Little and often
- Slow and gentle
- What the studies keep finding
Researchers have exposed volunteers to cold viruses, pooled hundreds of touch studies and recorded single nerve fibres in the skin. The findings are modest but real, and they all come with one condition: the touch has to be wanted.
Updated
THE SHORT ANSWER
Touch helps,
when it is welcome.
The evidence is encouraging but modest.
It points to small, regular, consensual touch.
MOOD
Less pain, less anxiety
A 2024 review pooled touch studies and found touch reduced pain, depression and anxiety. Blankets and pillows helped too, though less than people.
Compare kinds of touch
NERVES
Why slow feels nice
Special skin nerves called C-tactile fibres fire most to slow, gentle stroking, and the faster they fire, the more pleasant it feels.
Meet the nervesA QUICK TOUCH CHECK
What kind
of touch?
Pick a kind of touch to see what the research says about it. The bar shows how strongly the studies link it to the benefits they measured.
Based on a 2024 meta-analysis in Nature Human Behaviour and a 2014 review of C-tactile nerves. General information, not medical advice.
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
A cold-virus study,
and a big review.
One careful experiment on hugs,
one review of hundreds of touch studies.
⅓ of the effect
Share of social support's protection explained by hugs
404 healthy adults reported their hugs and conflicts by phone on 14 evenings, then were exposed to a cold virus in quarantine. Hugs accounted for about one-third of the protective effect of feeling supported.
HUGS AND COLDS · CARNEGIE MELLON
212 studies
Studies pooled in the 2024 review
137 studies in the meta-analysis and 75 more in the systematic review, covering 12,966 people. Touch reduced pain, depression and anxiety, with the largest effects on mental health.
TOUCH STUDIES · NATURE HUMAN BEHAVIOUR
The cold study's lead author said the benefit may come from the physical contact itself, or from hugs being a sign of support and closeness. The 2024 review notes small-study bias, and that people cannot be blinded to whether they were touched.
FOUR THINGS TO TRY
Warmer days,
one hug at a time.
None of these needs anything new. They are small habits that match what the touch studies keep finding.
Ask, every time
The 2024 review found benefits when touch was consensual. A quick "Hug?" keeps it that way.
Little and often
Longer touch did not clearly add more benefit, and shorter, more frequent touch did better in the review.
Go slow and gentle
A slow stroke on the arm or back matches the speed the skin's C-tactile nerves like best.
Lean on objects too
If people are not around, a heavy blanket or body pillow still showed a measurable, smaller benefit.
THE NERVES BEHIND IT
Skin that is tuned
for closeness.
Alongside the nerves that tell us about pressure and texture, hairy skin has slow C-tactile fibres. They fire most to soft stroking at about 1 to 10 cm a second, and their firing tracks how pleasant people say the touch feels.
Researchers Liljencrantz and Olausson suggest these fibres may be a dedicated pathway for the kind of close, affiliative contact we share with other people, such as a hug or a reassuring hand on the arm.
Questions
Questions people ask
Can hugs really stop you catching a cold?
Not exactly. In a study of 404 adults given a cold virus, more frequent hugs were linked with milder symptoms among those who got infected, and hugs explained about a third of social support's protective effect.
Is it the hug itself, or feeling loved?
Nobody knows yet. The lead researcher said the effect may come from the physical contact, or from hugs being a sign of support and intimacy.
Do longer hugs work better?
Not according to the 2024 review. Studies averaged about 20 minutes of touch, longer touch did not clearly change results, and shorter, more frequent touch was more beneficial.
Does a weighted blanket count?
Partly. Objects and robots gave physical benefits similar to people, but objects did less for mental health than human touch.
What if I don't like being hugged?
That matters. The review found benefits when touch was consensual, and unwanted touch is not what any of these studies measured.
Where the facts come from
- Association for Psychological Science: Hugs help protect against colds by boosting social support
- Packheiser et al. (2024), Nature Human Behaviour: Physical and mental health benefits of touch interventions
- Ruhr University Bochum: When and how does touch make a difference?
- Liljencrantz and Olausson (2014), Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience: Tactile C fibers and pleasant sensations