Co-regulation with other people

One explanation comes from Social Baseline Theory. It suggests the human brain expects to have access to supportive relationships that share the load of facing risk and effort. When trusted people are nearby, coping may take less effort. When we're cut off from them, everything can feel harder.

Relationship research also shows that emotions pass between people. In a helpful pattern, partners' emotions settle together and return to balance, which researchers call coregulation. In an unhelpful pattern, emotions build on each other and escalate, which they call codysregulation. This is why who we're with matters.

There's strong evidence that relationships matter for wellbeing, but co-regulation as a deliberate practice for adults hasn't been studied much as a treatment.

• A 2006 brain imaging study of 16 married women found that when they faced the threat of a mild electric shock, holding their husband's hand reduced activity in brain areas linked to threat. Holding a stranger's hand had a smaller effect. Women in higher-quality marriages showed the greatest benefit. This was a small study.
• A 2015 study of 39 couples showed that partners' emotions can either settle together or escalate together during discussions, depending on the couple.
• A 2010 review of 148 studies with more than 300,000 people found that people with stronger social relationships had a 50% greater likelihood of survival over the study periods. These studies show a link, not cause and effect.