A Lover's Touch Eases Pain as Heartbeats, Breathing Sync
Fathers-to-be, take note: You may be more useful in the labor and delivery room than you realize.
ICS's Dr. Pavel Goldstein recently published work on 鈥渋nterpersonal synchronization,鈥 the phenomenon in which individuals begin to physiologically mirror the people they鈥檙e with.
The of 22 couples, found that when an empathetic partner holds the hand of a woman in pain, their heart and respiratory rates sync and her pain dissipates. Dr. Goldstein came up with the idea after witnessing the birth of his daughter, now 4.
鈥淢y wife was in pain, and all I could think was, 鈥榃hat can I do to help her?鈥 I reached for her hand and it seemed to help,鈥 he recalls. 鈥淚 wanted to test it out in the lab: Can one really decrease pain with touch, and if so, how?鈥
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