When most of us were young and in love or at least infatuated with someone of the opposite sex, we often held hands when we walked, when we sat and talked, when we watched a movie and even sometimes when we ate. There seemed to be something magical when we held hands. We felt connected in ways that are difficult to put into words.

In our 60s, my wife and I still like to hold hands when we are doing things together. At church, we hold hands during prayer and when we sing hymns. It makes us feel closer and that we are doing things as one, not two separate people.

In some cultures, holding hands isn’t permissible until a more permanent formal relationship has been established. In old Ireland, holding hands was frowned upon until the later stages of courtship, which usually were a year or more after the first formal, chaperoned date. In other cultures, a couple would take each other’s hand for the first time as part of the marriage ceremony, a symbol of their joining together as one.

But is there more to holding handing than just the emotional feelings and bonding that we feel through the various stages of our lives?

Would you believe it’s a way to help relieve pain?

For many of us as get older, we experience more pains and aches and have you ever taken notice that we tend not to hold hands as much anymore?

Researchers at the University of Colorado in Boulder and the University of Haifa in Israel, conducted a study and reported a result that may or may not surprise many of us:

“The study, by researchers with the University of Colorado Boulder and University of Haifa, also found that the more empathy a comforting partner feels for a partner in pain, the more their brainwaves fall into sync. And the more those brain waves sync, the more the pain goes away.”

Lead author of the study, Pavel Goldstein commented:

“We have developed a lot of ways to communicate in the modern world and we have fewer physical interactions. This paper illustrates the power and importance of human touch.”

What led Goldstein to conduct this study? It dawned on him that when his wife was delivering their daughter, her pain seemed to ease when he held her hand but intensify when he wasn’t holding her hand, so he decided to test his observation.

The subject of the research had to do with what is known as ‘interpersonal synchronization’. This is described as when people are with each other and they psychologically mirror each other. Goldstein focused on the aspect of brain-to-brain coupling and its possible role in touch-induced analgesia. It’s the first study of its kind and may offer new ways to help people deal with pain.

Goldstein said that in the study:

“It appears that pain totally interrupts this interpersonal synchronization between couples and touch brings it back.”

He and his team are not sure exactly how this brain-to-brain synchronization through touch works, only that there is evidence, that it does work and that more research is needed.

Therefore, if you have pain or your loved one has pain, don’t just sit and sympathize for them but reach out take their hand in yours and see if it helps.