Touch your face to calm yourself: Why politicians train themselves to do it

Created: 05/28/2022, 07:08

By: Judith Brown

Through touch we can not only calm others, but also ourselves.

Politicians, however, avoid touching their faces.

Munich – We touch our faces up to 600 times a day.

With this gesture, we subconsciously want one thing above all: to calm down in stressful situations.

Especially with lecturers you can observe how they touch each other very briefly on the cheek, nose, chin or ears during a presentation or speech.

It is all the more astonishing that politicians – whose daily business is public appearances – usually refrain from making these gestures.

Former Chancellor Angela Merkel (67, CDU), for example, was known for positioning her hands in the "Merkel diamond" that is typical of her.

Physicist Harald Lesch (61) explained on Tuesday (May 24) in his ZDF program “Leschs Kosmos” why politicians are even training off this natural “sedative”.

Body language: touching your face - why politicians practice gestures

The Merkel diamond was the trademark of ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU).

© Emmanuele Contini/IMAGO

According to scientists, if we touch our faces, this is a phenomenon that is essential for survival.

Contrary to what was assumed, according to Lesch, it is not a question of skipping action if we push our hair behind our ears or scratch our nostrils while standing at the lectern.

In a study at the haptic research laboratory at the University of Leipzig, scientists investigated exactly what the unconscious actions are and what is behind them.

They got some surprising insights.

The research team presented plates with engraved patterns covered with a privacy screen to a subject whose brain waves were measured during the experiment using an electroencephalogram (EEG).

She should feel this in order to later trace the pattern from memory.

Between each plate, the subject was given a few minutes to memorize the pattern in her brain.

Meanwhile, disturbing noises came out of a loudspeaker, simulating the background noise of a city.

This caused stress in the participant.

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Face Touch: Experiment shows this is how we calm our brain

In order to calm down from the stress, the subject spontaneously touched her face several times.

This behavior also relaxed her brain, which could be read on the EEG.

This calming effect is triggered by the contact of the hands with the so-called vellus hairs.

These small, fine hairs are mainly found on the face in the regions of the nose, forehead and chin.

They are surrounded by receptors in the skin that transmit the tactile stimulus directly to the brain.

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With another experiment in the laboratory, the researchers were able to show the calming effect of touching oneself on the face.

The test person was again given plates with different patterns, which she was supposed to sense in order to later trace them from memory.

Again she was allowed to take a few minutes to memorize the pattern.

And this time she was exposed to the stress of the background noise.

However, in this experiment, the researchers fixed the test subject's two index fingers so that she could not spontaneously touch her face - even though she felt the urge to do so.

Due to the lack of touch, her brain could not calm down either, which was again shown on the EEG.

When the experiment was over, she touched her face several times in rapid succession and only then did she calm down.

It is also amazing that the participant was able to trace the patterns from the first experiment well.

However, when she was prevented from touching her face in the second experiment, it was harder for her to memorize the patterns and thus also harder to trace them.

The conclusion of the study was therefore: The possibility of reducing stress through self-touch is crucial for memory performance.

Merkel and her rhombus: why politicians refrain from touching their faces

When appearing in public, however, it is less appropriate to touch your face.

Even if the behavior has a calming effect, it also radiates insecurity.

Politicians are therefore careful to avoid the gesture and sometimes practice it.

A good way for Angela Merkel not to be tempted to slip up was her "Merkel diamond".

She held her hands with the palms in front of her stomach so that the thumb and forefinger touched the tips and described the shape of a diamond.

"The rhombus meant stability, it was a symbol," she explained in the ARD documentary "Angela Merkel - Over Time", revealing a secret of her chancellorship.

At the IT summit in Hamburg in 2014, however, it also happened to the then Chancellor: She tried to remember a term at the lectern that she absolutely couldn't think of.

While she was thinking, she brushed her hair behind her ear - and the word she was looking for was found.

This article only contains general information on the respective health topic and is therefore not intended for self-diagnosis, treatment or medication.

In no way does it replace a visit to the doctor.

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