Touching wood can alleviate stress

Scientists say that placing your hands on a wooden surface can have the same calming effect as petting an animal.

Professor Baroness Kathy Willis, a boffin at the University of Oxford, said: "If you stroke wood it is a bit like stroking a dog.

"It can lower your blood pressure, compared to stroking marble or steel, even if they're all at the same temperature.

"If you ever go to a home store and you look at people looking at the kitchens, they always stroke the bench. We subconsciously do it to see how it feels."

Professor Willis explained that much of the relaxing effect comes from the scent that is given off even decades after a tree has been cut down.

She told the Instant Genius podcast: "They've shown that wood panelling in offices, school rooms and homes give out this smell.

"That scent carries on for many years after the wood is up there.

"People who worked on a test in a concrete room versus a test in a pine room had really quite a significant difference in scores.

"They suggested it could be to do with the scent."

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