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Men hold key to their wives’ calm
By Jennifer Harper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
February 20, 2006
Forget about bubble baths, chocolate, lunch with the girls
or martinis.
A touch of her husband’s hand is one of the most effective ways to calm and
comfort a woman, said University of Virginia psychologist Jim Coan, who looked
inside the brains of 16 wives to discover that yes, hubby held the key to their
peace of mind.
Using magnetic resonance imaging, Mr. Coan found that women under stress who
hold their husbands’ hands show signs of “immediate relief,” with a powerful
decrease in threat-related brain activity. What’s more, the better the marriage,
the better the relief.
“There’s a lot of research out there suggesting that people in strong
attachment relations derive health benefits. What we didn’t expect was for our
findings to be so strong, so clear,” Mr. Coan said Thursday.
“We were also surprised to see that findings varied according to marital
quality,” he continued. “Women in better marriages derived more benefits, which
can clearly be seen on their brain scans.”
The scientific community and public alike have been intrigued by the
reassuring news.
“This is the first time I ever received fan mail for a study,” Mr. Coan
observed.
He was persnickety about determining the parameters of a good marriage,
subjecting the couples to the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, a standard psychological
test that evaluates their sweet talk, arguments, mutual interests, humor and
other shared moments.
And the hand-holding?
Mr. Coan said the sentimental activity has long been a part of folk culture
as a symbol of affection. But it now has scientific merit as well, he said. The
study, supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, put
couples to the real test—one somewhere between the territories of Dr. Phil and
Dr. Frankenstein, perhaps.
During the wives’ brain scans, each received mild but nonetheless
threatening electrical shocks. Mr. Coan measured the response in their brains
when they held the hand of their beloved—and that of a stranger.
“The results showed a large decrease in the brain response to threat as a
function of spouse hand holding,” but limited response to a stranger, the study
stated. The husbands even lessened emotional activity in the brain’s pain
processing circuits.
Other research in recent years equates marital bliss with good health.
Women in satisfying marriages have a distinct health advantage over single
or unhappily married women, according to an American Psychological Association
study that found that solid marriages benefit blood pressure, cholesterol and
other cardiovascular factors.
The “bliss of a steady marriage” is also a strong antidote to a life of
crime, a University of Florida study found.
Alternatively, long-term, low-quality marriages have significant negative
effects on overall well-being, according to a study released last month by
Pennsylvania State University sociologists.
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