为什么牵手有助于减轻疼痛

减轻疼痛的方法可能就在你的手掌上。

New research suggests that physical touch, such as holding hands, could be helpful in reducing pain, most notably when it’s two people in a relationship, according to researchers from the University of Haifa in Israel, who presented their findings last week at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago.

以色列海法大学(university of haifa)的研究人员上周在芝加哥举行的神经科学学会(society for neuroscience)会议上公布了他们的研究结果，他们认为，身体接触，如牵手，可能有助于减轻疼痛，尤其是当两个人处于恋爱关系中时。

“We all know that hand-holding is important for social support, but here we show the brain mechanism for this effect,” Simone Shamay-Tsoory, a psychology professor at the University of Haifa told Medium. “We show for the first time that brain waves are synchronized during hand-holding, and this support is effective at pain reduction.”

海法大学的心理学教授西蒙沙迈佐里(simone shamay tsoory)对medium说：“我们都知道，握手对社交很重要，但这里我们展示了这种作用的大脑机制。”“我们首次证明，在握手的过程中，脑电波是同步的，这种支持在减轻疼痛方面是有效的。”

Shamay-Tsoory and her team have been conducting studies on the matter for years. First, in a study published in 2016 in the American Pain Society’s Journal of Pain, researchers compared the effect touch — from both loved ones and strangers — and empathy had on pain levels. They discovered that when loved ones held hands, pain levels were reduced. But when the empathy came from a stranger, it had no effect.

萨迈特苏里和她的团队多年来一直在进行这方面的研究。首先，在2016年发表在美国疼痛学会疼痛杂志上的一项研究中，研究人员比较了来自亲人和陌生人的触摸和移情对疼痛程度的影响。他们发现当亲人牵手时，疼痛程度会降低。但当同理心来自一个陌生人时，它没有效果。

Still, don’t expect to be hugging your pain away any time soon. Juulia Suvilehto, a researcher at the Linköping University in Sweden, who was not involved in the research, told Medium that she’s skeptical that a little hand hugging will do you any good — it’s probably correlational rather than causational.

不过，不要指望很快就能拥抱你的痛苦。Juulia Suvilehto是瑞典林雪平大学的一名研究人员，她没有参与这项研究。她告诉媒体，她怀疑一个小小的拥抱是否对你有任何好处——这可能是相关的，而不是因果关系。

Plus, she notes, touch has been shown to lower the body’s response to stress, which theoretically could diminish pain as well.

另外，她还指出，触摸可以降低身体对压力的反应，理论上也可以减轻疼痛。

One thing’s for sure, though, “hold your hand through it” has a new, scientific meaning.

不过，有一件事是肯定的，那就是“牵着你的手一起到老”有一个新的科学意义。