14 Effective Health Benefits Of Hugging – Healthy Happiness!

Hugging a day keeps pain away!

Right after you get back home after a hectic day or when you are worried, how would it feel if you received a warm hug from your family member? Comfortable and warm! Right?

A hug is an effective medicine without side effects to all our pain, it is needed for good mental health(R). Leave alone receiving a hug in times of stress, it is a sweet gesture of expressing regards, happiness and love for your loved one.

For a matter of fact, hugs are instant healers. Additionally, science has proven how hugs improve your health, wondering how?

Read this article and get acquainted with the health benefits of hugging and the number of hugs needed for good health.

Significance Of A Hug – Study It!

On a whole, hugging has its significance in making you feel better in the mind and body. Psychologically, hugs play an important role in making you feel rejuvenated. Physically, your hormones and the entire system is completely healthy.

There was a research conducted (R) on how hugs can eliminate negativity in relationships and it was found that people who hugged more were likely to feel positive and solve conflicts in a relationship.

When a person cannot express pain or happiness through verbal communication, a hug says it all. There are different means of hugging, some are personal hugs while the rest of them are friendly ones.

For instance, there will always be a difference in the way you hug your child and your colleague, isn’t it? Both the hugs will more or less mean to comfort or greet. However, the way you hug the two will differ.

As long as you keep to your boundaries while hugging, you will never see a flaw with it. Having understood the significance of hugging, you should start to cuddle and often hug the people you love. Hug for seconds or minutes, make a good choice for yourself.

Awesome Benefits Of Hugging You Will Love

As you have a rough idea on the significance of hugging. Read through all the mental and physical health benefits of hugging. Here they are!

Physical Benefits

Benefit No 1 – Hugging Boosts Immunity

When stress gets out of control, it has negative effects on the body affecting your immunity. For instance, lack of sleep due to stress could end up making you obese. So, this is how uncontrolled stress will be evident on you.

Interestingly, hugging is an amazing source of boosting your immune system, how? It gets the cortisol hormone in control. A strong immune system (R) keeps your body away from infections and diseases.

Therefore, if you never want stress being (R) the reason for your sickness, it is essential to hug for a few seconds every day.

Benefit No 2 – Hugging Is Excellent For A Healthy Heart

For your heart to function well, it needs enough blood and oxygen to pump without any hindrance. This is clearly possible when you get a hold of the stress in your mind.

Having said, a hug secretes oxytocin, this hormone drastically brings down all your stress levels by keeping a watch over cortisol(the stress hormone) as well.

Apart from this, you can save your heart from diseases if the blood pressure levels come in control, isn’t it? Again, the oxytocin will come into the picture, studies say, your blood pressure levels are in control (R) when oxytocin levels are high.

Benefit No 3 – Hugging Finds You An Escape From Stress

To beat the stress away, you need to hug away!

Whenever you are stressed and feel hopeless with no solution, just don’t dwell in stress for long, come ahead and give one of your loved ones a nice and tight hug.

You will feel a 10% reduction in your stress levels. It has been studied that hugs are capable enough to send a message to your brain(R) to calm down.

Read: Teenage Stress: Causes And Remedies

Benefit No 4 – Hugging Revives Muscles

Researchers have got to see that hugging is beneficial for reviving muscles in the body as well. This happens through oxytocin, this hormone is responsible in reducing the aging affects on the body.

Besides, oxytocin isn’t just restricted to reviving your muscles, in a small way it helps during lactation and child birth as well.

Researchers took two mices(R), injected oxytocin in one and left the other mice as it is.

Later, they found that the muscles of the mice injected with oxytocin were revived when compared to the mice that wasn’t injected.

Benefit No 5 – Hugging Is A Boon For Your Nerves

Your nerves are in place only when your mind is at ease, for your mind to be at ease, you need to stay peaceful and happy.

To stay peaceful and happy, you need to sense touch and get enough hugs. As your nerves carry messaged to the brain, it has to go through well so that it can keep the brain and heart healthy.

Therefore, directly or indirectly, hugging is good for your nerves, brain, heart and health.

Benefit No 6 – Hugging Is Good To Ignite Intimacy

It is a happy place to be in the arms of the person you love, agree? When your skin comes in contact through a hug, it is enough to light a spark for intimacy.

When you hug the man or woman you love, your body releases the dopamine hormone. This hormone allows you to experience immense pleasure.

The body is benefited(R) when you get intimate often, your immunity gets better and the risk of being affected by a disease is less in your case.

Mental Benefits

Benefit No 1 – Hugging Helps In Building Relationships

The charm is all in a touch! It is through the touch of a hug that people get associated with each other and wish to build that relationship.

Put yourself in the same shoes, wouldn’t you enjoy spending time with a family member who hugs you when you are in pain or motivates you with a pat on your back? You would connect with that person, right?

Science has a wonderful explanation to how a warm touch can make you feel connected (R) to a person, it begins with a term called “pacinian corpuscles”. This is activated in your body when your skin gets to feel the pressure of your fingers.

This “pacinian corpuscles” sends a signal to one of the nerves known as vagus nerve in your brain, the message is passed to your heart and this reduces blood pressure. Thus, hugs and touches can build relationships as well as eliminate stress.

Read: 12 Signs of a Healthy Relationship

Benefit No 2 – Hugging Helps You Communicate Better

Communication is the key to do well in your personal and professional relationships. Many a times, it is not easy to put forth what you feel and gestures solves all your problems. Talking of which, hugging is the right source for communicating (R) what is unsaid.

By managing your emotions and getting everything out of you, it is easier to be happy and feel peaceful. If you are peaceful, your body is healthier.

For instance, if you are going through a hard time at work and you want to avoid stressing your parents out, however, you still want to express your worry. The best thing to do is to give them a tight hug.

Read: 10 Key Habits for Building Better Relationships

Benefit No 3 – Hugging Boosts Morale

As one touch is enough to make you feel better, a good hug can boost ones morale to gain better confidence.

Notice the difference when you have to boost yourself all alone and the world of a difference it makes when someone gives you a comforting touch (R), you gather a new ball of energy and get to believe in yourself much better.

So, for good emotional health, make the most of hugs and give it to people who need it when they feel less confident.

Read: The 10 Different Types of Hugs and What They Mean

Benefit No 4 – Hugging Makes You Fearless

Fear is a common emotion we all face at some point. Reasons for being afraid will differ from person to person. Just the touch of a hug is enough to make you feel like someone is around and you don’t have to be scared.

There was a research conducted on how fear can be minimized by hugging (R), it says that people who have low-self esteem issues are more likely to feel better after a hug.

So, whenever you see a person scared, it is good to give them a hug. For all you know, this would reduce their insecurities and give them a ray of hope to overcome fear.

Read: Fears According to Your Horoscope and How to Counter Them

Benefit No 5 – Hugging Guarantees Happiness

You can be assured of being the happiest soul when you have someone to hug and comfort you in all times.

Take your romantic relationship as an example, personally how does it feel after you get a hug from your partner for being upset. Seems like all your problems have disappeared, right?

All thanks to the cuddle hormone, this makes your life easier and happiness is certainly guaranteed with a hug. There was an experiment conducted in the US to check on how helpful are hugs in making a person happy.

About 400 men and women from the age of 21 to 55 participated and it was found that the happier ones were the people who hugged often.

Read : 10 Secrets Of Happy Relationship

Benefit No 6 – Hugging Beats Loneliness

Does it happen that you feel all alone even though there are people around and you have every means to get in touch or connect with people? Well, this happens because the personal touch is lacking and it is equally important to feel like you belong.

Hugging a person is proven beneficial to beat loneliness. When you are touched, your brain receives signals and automatically you start to feel so much better because oxytocin is released (R) and this is a natural therapy to all your loneliness concerns.

Read: 13 Good Tips To Deal With Loneliness – Chase Loneliness!

Benefit No 7 – Hugging Is Good For A Child’s Growth

An innocent child always needs that comforting touch, this ensures security and at the same time hugging is psychologically good for the child in a long run.

Had your parents not given you tight hugs and cuddles, would you ever be able to figure out what it is to feel good? So, if you have a child already or in the process of being a parent, you should give your baby enough hugs.

Studies claim, children grow out to be more mature and have a good sense of handling tough situations when they are given enough attention and hugs at a tender age. Additionally, they understand family bonding even better when they are hugged often.

There was a research done on the effect of hugs on orphan children (R) and the results showed, orphan children didn’t have much awareness about family bonding in comparison to children who were raised up by their parents.

Read: Loving Someone Vs Being In Love – Get It Right!

Benefit No 8 – Hugging Improves Self-Awareness

How good it is to be aware of your mind and body, this is the best initiative for self-peace, agree?

Hugging has its spiritual significance of making you aware, this helps you live in the moment and be happier, ever heard of hugging meditation? You can try hugging meditation if you think it will benefit you mentally.

Read: Ways to take care of yourself and show love towards you

Take a look at the video below

What Happens When You Hug for 20 Seconds

Here is what science says about hugging for 20 seconds. Well, if you want to go ahead and hug for longer, you are free to.

Basically, when we are stressed, we need hugs to feel relieved from it, isn’t it? For real, stress and anxiety is released as two hormones get to work. One hormone is released and the other is brought to control.

1. Oxytocin or the cuddle hormone is released – relieves stress and anxiety.
2. Norepinephrine is brought in control – neurons secrete this hormone in the nervous system. Additionally, this hormone helps the body function well.

Besides feeling stress-free after oxytocin is released, you will be able to trust in your relationships better, you won’t get depressed and your mind remains calm. So, hug for 20 seconds and see how amazing you begin to feel!

How Many Hugs Do You Need a Day?

As mentioned earlier, you don’t have rules on hugging, hug till your heart’s contended. Science has arrived at a number of hugs one should receive. Take a look at it!

• It is important to get 4 hugs to scrape through every day.
• To feel totally good, we need four more and that makes it 8 hugs a day
• To feel the best, nothing like it to receive 12 hugs a day.

There are lonely people out there who are craving for a comforting touch. However, some of us are lucky to get hugged by all our near and dear ones.

It is a good practice to hug your loved ones as it keeps you healthy from the inside out. If you are not used to giving your near one a hug, start giving it to them here on.

Conclusion

Be it for emotional, social, mental or physical comfort, hugging has its superiority and is good for health. On a daily basis, see to it that you hug someone you love the most and even someone who needs it. Hugging will make your hormones happier and fill the void in your heart.

Boost the immune system, keep your blood pressure in control and invigorate your heart by hugging a person for 20 seconds from today. Along with a healthy diet and good exercises you need hugs for a healthy mind and body.