Hold My Hand, Please

A. J. Jacobs, in his odd book Drop Dead Healthy, writes about holding hands:

Holding hands is healthy.  A study by James Coan, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Virginia brought sixteen married couples into his lab and subjected them to the threat of electric shock while he studied their brains on an fMRI machine.  He found that wives who were holding their husbands’ hands experienced less stress.  Even holding a stranger’s hand calmed the women’s brains, though not as much.

Jabobs, male, apparently concluded that the benefits of hand holding applied to men as well as women and began holding hands more often with his wife and his children.  Unfortunately, in the United States, hand holding seems to be something we do only with romantic partners and children. I’d like to see that change. Also, if this information makes you long for a dose of the Beatles, here it is.