Women who embraced their partner to have lower stress-induced cortisol response

An analysis of 76 people who were in romantic relationships was done. All participants underwent a stress-inducing test in which they were asked to keep one hand in an ice-water bath for three minutes while being observed and maintaining eye contact with a camera. Prior to this test, half of the couples were instructed to embrace, and the others did not embrace. The researchers measured various indicators of stress, including participants' salivary cortisol levels, before and after the experiment. The results revealed that women who embraced their partner had a lower cortisol response to the stress test than women who did not embrace their partner.

Other measures of stress including changes in blood pressure and emotional state did not show any associations with partner embrace. These results suggest that a brief embrace with a romantic partner might subsequently reduce the cortisol response for women facing stressful social situations, such as school exams, job interviews, or even presentations.