Hugging helps to ease stress in women.
A hug can ease stress levels in females
A new study has compared how embraces impact on both sexes and found that females who hugged their partners had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
Experts looked at 38 couples to measure the effects of a squeeze and the pair were given a stress-inducing test where they were asked to put a hand in cold water for three minutes. Half the couples then embraced while the other half did not.
Stress indicators were measured both before and after and women were less stressed after a hug, although the same effect was not seen in men.
The researchers from Ruhr University Bochum in Germany, writing in the Plos One journal, said: "As a woman, hugging your romantic partner can prevent the acute stress response of your body."