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Episode 81 Hugging: Is It Only About Feeling Good?
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Episode 81 Hugging: Is it only about feeling good?
In this episode, we will focus on the many wonderful benefits of hugging. It’s a long list, so hang on. Everything from lowering your blood pressure and decreasing inflammation to calming the mind and encouraging healing. Let’s go!
So how many of you are huggers? Do you like to hug or is it just plain torture for you?
For some of us, hugs only happen at holidays when grandparents come to town. Yet for some of us, hugs are a regular part of our daily life.
No Hugs are Created Equal
Everyone is different. Hugging one person may feel warm and inviting. It’s as though positive energy passes from them to you. Just that simple hug all of a sudden makes your world happier and less stressful. It’s amazing how much brighter everything can look after a single hug.
Some people, however, are like hugging a tree. You know, that person who just stands there, stiff as a board. Often times, they hold their breath. As soon as you start to hug them, you are sorry that you did. But it’s too late. Knowing that you have already committed to the hug, you feel obligated to press forward. Their arms may move around you, but they don’t embrace you or welcome you. It is as though you have invaded their territory. Making a quick retreat is your only path.
Some people just can’t stand hugging. I don’t mean they don’t like it. I mean they would rather be greeted with a hand grenade and a box of scorpions. Why? What is it that they find so bad or so offensive about a hug? Is it an invasion of their personal territory? Is it insecurity about their ability to hug and connect? Is it an unwillingness to be vulnerable? If hugging just isn’t your thing, tell me why. I want to know.
Research on Hugs
Scientists have researched hugs. Of course they have. They have researched everything! Okay. Well…was this a waste of their time? Absolutely not! For me it was validation as to why I like hugging so much. Why other people don’t like hugging will always remain a mystery to me?
Benefits of Hugging
- Lowers risk of heart disease
- Reduces stress
- Fights fatigue
- Boosts your immune system
- Fights infections
- Eases depression
- Decreases feelings of loneliness, sadness and anger
- Combats fear
- Increases self-esteem
- Diffuses tension
- Balances your nervous system
- Speeds up healing from sickness and disease
- Reduces inflammation and tension
- Reduces perception of pain
- Relaxes your muscles
- Reduces anxiety and worry
- Increases blood circulation
- Lowers blood pressure
- Calms the mind
The list of the benefits of hugging is a long one. It goes on and on. Let’s take a closer look at a few of these.
Hugs Help with Healing the Body
They strengthen the immune system by stimulating the thymus gland, which is located directly behind the sternum. It regulates and balances the body’s production of white blood cells, which keep you healthy and disease free. A tight and firm hug, chest to chest, stimulates that thymus gland.
Reduces pain by releasing endorphins which block pain pathways.
Reduces inflammation by lessening the release of cortisol, the stress hormone. Cortisol leads to inflammation in our body. Its constant release has drastic effects. We need to become more aware of this and find ways to cut back on this hormone in our bodies. In other words, stress reduction must become a priority for us. One way is to hug more!
Hugs Heal Loneliness, Depression, and Anger
It instantly boosts oxytocin levels, the “bonding hormone.” Oxytocin, released by your pituitary gland, is a naturally occurring hormone in your body with incredibly powerful, health-giving properties. It promotes attachment and bonding.
Hugs Reduce anxiety and stress
Hugging relaxes muscles, releases tension in the body, sends calming messages to the brain, increases circulation, reduces pain, lowers heart rate, and lowers blood pressure.
The hormones that are released in the body after a hug aren’t just good for happy feelings — they can also help your physical health. When someone touches you, the sensation on your skin activates pressure receptors, which then send signals to the vagus nerve, an area of the brain that is responsible for (among many things) lowering blood pressure.
The effects of a hug on your body are physical. It actually changes your body’s current state in positive ways.
Creates happiness
Increases the production of serotonin.
Serotonin impacts every part of your body, from your emotions to your motor skills. Serotonin is considered a natural mood stabilizer and the chemical that helps sleeping, eating, and digesting. A person experiences depression and loneliness when their serotonin levels are low. Serotonin also helps reduce depression, regulate anxiety, heal wounds, and maintain bone health.
Seratonin pushes toxins out of your body. It is the thing responsible for nausea and diarrhea. You may think, Great? I don’t want that around. But this is how your body pushes out toxins that just don’t belong there. Without this, the toxins would remain. You know, sometimes you just feel better after you throw up. You have serotonin to thank for that.
Hugging teaches us to let go and be present in the moment. It connects you with your own feelings, boosting your self-esteem.
Improves Relationships
Hugging teaches us how to give and receive. It shows how love flows both ways. It’s an investment in the relationship. Hugging encourages empathy and understanding, builds trust and sense of safety, makes you warm and fuzzy inside, helps you feel protected and loved, and increases feelings of commitment and intimacy.
Hugs Travel Both Ways
It doesn’t matter if you are the toucher or the touchee. Just as much benefit exists for the person doing the hugging as the one receiving the hug.
Hugs cross a boundary that words cannot cross. A hug communicates a lot. Your feelings and emotions can be felt in your hug, much greater than words. But what’s so wrong about that?
If you want to know how I feel, come here. Let me give you a hug. If you want me to know how you feel, let me give you a hug. Now we can understand each other. And with understanding, comes compassion.
From an article in Collective Evolution
“Hugging! We often hug each other when we are happy or when we see the person we love most. We often feel joy and happiness when hugging another person, and a hug can convey a lot about how we’re feeling and how we feel about each other. Each time we sincerely hug someone, we are actually conveying our love and joy for that person in a way that can never be explained through our words alone. We feel all our burdens ease away while we are in a hug, and those worries are replaced by increased feelings of happiness and trust.”
To read more about the benefits of hugging, I am posting links to various resources. These include – US News, Huffington Post, Dr. Mercola and the Cleveland Clinic. Check them out.
Don’t forget – open your arms and your heart will soon follow. Hug someone today!
The post Episode 81 Hugging: Is It Only About Feeling Good? appeared first on This Simple Moment.
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