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Take a hot bath, you’ll fee better. Not only does warm water soothe us, it can combat loneliness. According to research published in the journal Emotion.
Scientists analyzed the bathing habits of 51 people. And had them record how they felt before and after bathing. The researchers found that higher scores on a measure of chronic loneliness were associated with an increase in warmer baths or showers. In a separate study, to test the link between physical temperature and emotional state, scientists had subjects hold cold and hot packs and recorded levels of perceived loneliness. They confirmed the correlation between cold packs and high loneliness scores.
Then in another study the researchers had subjects recall a time when they were feeling excluded. This exercise made the subjects subsequently desire comforting social activities like hanging with friends. But this desire was reduced for those subjects who were asked to hold a warm pack.
The authors claim this association between warmth and security is innate, yet many are not aware of the link, at least when it comes to warm baths. In another study they found that subjects do not think of a frequent bather as a particularly lonely person. A little obsessive maybe, but not lonely.
—Christie Nicholson
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12 Comments
Add CommentHot baths are an excellent remedy for loneliness if you take one with a friend.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe study that was conducted by John A. Bargh and Idit Shalev at Yale University is available on the web at http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/Bargh_Shalev_Emotion.pdf
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThanks for the link. Free access to the research report being presented is always useful.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo, global warming and continued world population growth should cure feelings of loneliness?
Seriously, there was no aspect of climate in considering these effects. For example, is warmth more effective in cold conditions: do retirees in Florida respond more positively to warming treatments than those in Alaska? Do the results apply to equatorial populations in developing countries as well as those in Northern Europe, for example? Do the elderly in temperate climes respond more to warming treatments during winter? Perhaps this effect even contributes to 'cabin fever'...
With the increasing elderly populations in much of the world these results could make life more comfortable for many.
That is hilarious.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou know what the best cure for loneliness is? Someone to have intercourse with. And if you're lucky, maybe they'll share a hot bath with you too :)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPretty silly, Christie. How about a lonely fellow in the conntinuous Hot Hor Hyderabad weather in India - for sure he/she is much better refreshed by cool water bath!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHot bath is not always a health secured. Frequent hot bathing causing for wrinkle the skin and falling of the hair. It one way is a trophy to the human mussel of course.And also it increased the body heat.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think I feel less lonely and more acceptable after interacting with a "warm" person than with someone telling me something "cold" as if to put me down.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am not sure the two studies really support each other. That people who bathe least feel more excluded from the company of others should not be surprising really. Feeling less alone when holding something that is warm - something we check for as a sign of life - may or may not have anything to do with this.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSome LIKE it HOT!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthat includes some little critters of the Legionnaires' League type as well, not to forget..
The sixties' saying: 'Save water, shower with a friend',thankfully still holds water in this day & age of global warming..
We naked apes of African descent must be the only ones enjoying a hot comforting soak , I presume ; barring those damn-lucky Japanese macaques that found a hot spring to cheer themselves up in, hot water must have been a truly rare commodity in our own evolutionary past, and saunas did not precede the discovery date of fire either..
Maybe that's why, physiologically, we now suffer more chances of a heart attack in our older age in saunas and hot tubs?
Enter at your own risk!
I find something wrong in the script.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe problems are at the last paragraph.
1. many ... : I hear some sound pronounce /s/
2. at least : it should be "certainly"
am I right?
how can i download this podcast?
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