How Holding Yourself Can Reduce Stress
The Science of Happiness
PRX and Greater Good Science Center
4.4 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 12 October 2023
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Simple actions like consciously placing a hand on your heart or hugging yourself can lower your cortisol levels, heart rate, and help you feel less stressed. Our guest tries a practice in self-soothing touch.
Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/2zbykwh6
Episode summary:
While reading this, you might be fiddling with your fingers or have a hand resting on your face -– these are examples of self-touch. This week, we are examining the benefits of offering ourselves soothing touches with comedian Calvin Cato. Calvin leads a busy, stressful life. He tried the self-soothing touch practice as a way to better connect with himself. He found that physically caring for himself allowed him to reground his emotions and regulate his stress. To his surprise, the physical sensations also triggered fond childhood memories with his father. Later, we hear from self-compassion and mindfulness expert Aljoscha Dreisoerner about why we evolved to crave touch and how self-touch can be as effective as getting a hug from someone else.
Practice:
- Find a comfortable position to begin the practice. What works for one person might not work for another. Here are some options you can choose from:
Place one or both hands on your heart or stomach.
Placing your right hand on your heart and the left on your belly while focusing on the rising and falling of the breath.
Stroke your arms or cheeks.
Place your right hand under your left arm, by the side of the heart. Place your left hand on the top of your right arm.
Try the practice you choose for at least twenty seconds. While doing the practice, focus on taking a few deep breaths, drawing attention to the pressure and warmth of your hands.
Repeat as many times as you would like.
Today’s guests:
Calvin Cato is a comedian and writer based in New York City.
Learn more about Calvin: https://tinyurl.com/3hcmcf8y
Read Calvin’s personal essay in Queendom: https://tinyurl.com/42u5h23w
Follow Calvin on Twitter: https://tinyurl.com/2p5pkmkb
Follow Calvin on Instagram: https://tinyurl.com/z5h47asz
Aljoscha Dreisoerner is a Post Doctorate at The University of Vienna interested in self-compassion and mindfulness.
Learn about Aljoscha’s work: https://tinyurl.com/bdfa48n7
Follow Aljoscha on Twitter: https://tinyurl.com/94txhhrj
Follow Aljoscha on Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/yc4wbmfh
Resources from The Greater Good Science Center:
Why Physical Touch Matters for Your Well-Being: https://tinyurl.com/m2ea524m
Hands On Research: The Science of Touch: https://tinyurl.com/bdfbk36d
Four Ways Hugs Are Good for Your Health: https://tinyurl.com/3x39apr8
How Touch Shapes Emotion: https://tinyurl.com/3ukuut3b
More Resources on self soothing touch:
CBC - Self-soothing strategies to help break a chain of anxious thoughts quickly: https://tinyurl.com/3ksh2u6e
TED - Bonus: Self-soothing exercises with Dr. Kristin Neff: https://tinyurl.com/mvrwa596
Business Insider - It's possible to be literally starved for touch — here are the symptoms of the condition: https://tinyurl.com/bdc42rh7
Have you tried giving yourself a hug recently? Email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.
Help us share The Science of Happiness!
Leave us a 5-star review on Spotify and share this link with someone who might like the show: https://tinyurl.com/ytt84cex
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | My parents, they were definitely loving, but I wouldn't say they were warm, especially |
| 0:08.3 | in terms of like hugging or tactile sensations. |
| 0:13.8 | My parents didn't have the best upbringing in terms of their parents. |
| 0:17.3 | Their parents were very cold and they were very distant to them, and so I think that translated |
| 0:22.5 | into them kind of trying to bring them to the next generation. |
| 0:27.1 | But touch was always something that was important to me, growing up, and it was a running joke |
| 0:32.1 | that used to steal hugs from my mom, where my mom was like, oh, what are you doing touching |
| 0:35.8 | me? |
| 0:36.8 | I'm like, oh, I'm just hugging, like this is what I see and sit calms in at large. |
| 0:41.9 | And so it's so funny that it went from a thing of, oh goodness, I'm not used to that. |
| 0:47.2 | But for me, the idea of just stealing little touches here and there, and then my parents |
| 0:51.6 | accepting that always made me feel a sense of love and a sense of just kind of feeling |
| 0:55.9 | like part of a family really. |
| 1:05.3 | Welcome to the Science of Happiness, I'm Dacker Kilner. |
| 1:08.8 | It is hard to overstate the importance of touch in our lives. |
| 1:12.3 | It's so critical, in fact, that if a newborn baby isn't touched, they won't survive. |
| 1:17.6 | When we touch someone we care about, our brains release oxytocin, the neuropeptide that |
| 1:22.4 | helps us feel connected to one another, which is a fundamental human need. |
| 1:27.1 | Today, we're talking about the science of self-soothing touch, doing things like placing |
| 1:33.3 | your hand on your heart, or giving yourself a hug. |
| 1:37.7 | Our guest is Calvin Cato, he's a comedian living in New York City, who knows deeply |
| 1:42.8 | how important touch is and how healing it can be. |
... |
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