How many hugs a day do you need

Why we need 8 hugs a day

There is a saying by Virginia Satir, an often quoted family therapist, “We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth.” 8 or more might seem quite high, but while researching and writing this article I asked my daughters, “How many hugs a day do you like?” One of them said, “I’m not going to tell you how many I like, but it’s way more than 8.” That really made me smile and touched my heart. And, I was once more assured, how deep the meaning of hugs is!

I have cited the numerous benefits of hugs to all my clients, friends and every one I get to talk to about be-with idea. Where it came from and how it really works. Often people are surprised at the many benefits hugs can have. But there are also many articles on these benefits. Here are reasons that are listed by Mindbodygreen.com that I can totally relate to and advise!

Hugging therapy is definitely a powerful way of healing. Research shows that hugging (and also laughter) is extremely effective at healing sickness, disease, loneliness, depression, anxiety and stress.

Research shows a proper deep hug, where the hearts are pressing together, can benefit you in these ways:

1. The nurturing touch of a hug builds trust and a sense of safety. This helps with open and honest communication.

2. Hugs can instantly boost oxytocin levels, which heal feelings of loneliness, isolation, and anger.

3. Holding a hug for an extended time lifts one’s serotonin levels, elevating mood and creating happiness.

4. Hugging boosts self-esteem. From the time we’re born our family’s touch shows us that we’re loved and special. The associations of self-worth and tactile sensations from our early years are still embedded in our nervous system as adults. Hugs, therefore, connect us to our ability to self-love.

5. Hugging relaxes muscles. Hugs release tension in the body. Hugs can take away pain; they soothe aches by increasing circulation into the soft tissues.

6. Hugs teach us how to give and receive. There is equal value in receiving and being receptive to warmth, as to giving and sharing. Hugs educate us how love flows both ways.

7. Hugs are so much like meditation and laughter. They teach us to let go and be present in the moment. They encourage us to flow with the energy of life. Hugs get you out of your circular thinking patterns and connect you with your heart and your feelings and your breath.

Benefits Of Hugs: How Many Hugs Do We Need In A Day

Learn how many of them can get your oxytocin flowing and lift your spirits.

As Head Of Content Operations, Harini sets the tone and editorial direction for StyleCraze to deliver engaging, interesting, and authentic content revolving around women’s health, wellness, and beauty. more

Touch is one of the most significant of the five basic senses of the human body. A simple touch, like a hug or resting your head on someone’s shoulder, can make you feel better. So, how many hugs do we need in a day to make ourselves feel confident and happy? The more, the better!

In any relationship, touch is an important love language. Think of a romantic relationship – a soft kiss, the gentle brush of fingers, or a touch on the cheek – such simple gestures mean the world to us. Even in a platonic relationship, something as small as a side hug or a pat on the back lets us know our friends have our back. And we’ve all felt the warmth and safety in the hug of a parental figure.

The verdict is in – there is nothing as comforting as a hug, especially a bear hug! It can make you feel strong when you are weak, make you smile when you are down, and can let you know that you have someone to support you through the bad times.

However, there is a scientific reason you feel good when you are hugged. Keep reading to know what science has to say about how hugs elevate your day and leave you ecstatic!

In This Article

What Is A Hug?

Wrapping your arms around another person’s body can be defined as a hug. There are several variations of how a person hugs right from a tight hug with arms completely wrapped around another person’s body to a side hug with an arm thrown over the other person’s shoulder.

A hug can manifest in different ways in different cultures. While some might have strict rules about hugging in public, others may see it as a way of social greeting. For example, in Portugal and Brazil, men often hug each other in greeting or saying goodbye. In many South Asian cultures, this tactile behavior between men is quite common and acceptable. It is, in fact, seen as a sign of brotherhood and camaraderie.

However, in many Arabic or South-East Asian cultures, unrelated or unmarried people hugging might be viewed as immoral and unacceptable.

Among teenagers in the United States, hugging is a common form of saying hello or goodbye.

Despite the cultural differences, the truth remains that hugging is a common human action whether done in public or private. Let us explore the different types of hugs prevalent across cultures.

Different Types Of Hugs

People do not hug each other only when they are in love. The different types of hugs also vary based on the relationship between the two people. The way you hug your partner might not be the same as the hug that you share with your parents or your best friends. The most common types of hugs are as follows:

1. The Tight Hug

A tight hug or a squeeze is common between people who share a lot of love for each other. Whether the duration of this hug is long or short, a squeeze often expresses affection and fondness for the other person.

While this is a common form of hugging among partners, you might also experience this with close friends and family members you are especially comfortable with. It is an extremely intimate hug that you would barely ever share with strangers you do not trust.

2. The Bear Hug

Much like the tight hug, the bear hug is also commonly seen between partners and friends. It is a sweet hug that often shows that the two people hugging trust each other and feel safe with the other.

In a bear hug, you wrap your arms around another person, resting your face on their chest or shoulders, and feel relaxed and happy. This type of comforting hug is not necessarily romantic but can be a way of expressing intimacy and care.

3. The Long Hug

A long and strong hug is often an expression of protection, love, and tenderness. You would share this with your close family, friends, and partner, but it is not absolutely out of place to share it with a stranger who might be a comforting presence in a certain situation.

4. The Back Hug

This might be a hug that is exclusively shared between partners. It shows a certain level of trust and care only common among two people in love with each other. A back hug is especially intimate because you are trusting the other person to care for you while not being able to see them.

The back hug is also often referred to as the naughty hug for the reason you would not entirely know who is hugging from behind. Nevertheless, it is an extremely personal and close iteration of a hug.

5. The Side Hug

A side hug is when you put your arms around another person’s shoulder in a gesture that is similar to a full-blown hug but still has some distance between the bodies. The side hug is less intimate or romantic and is often shared between friends and acquaintances.

It is common to side hug each other in greeting as well as while posing for photographs. It is not necessarily seen as a hug that expresses a certain type of emotion for another person.

Whatever be the type of a hug, the act of hugging has several wonderful benefits. Let us find out what they are!

Advantages Of Hugging

Besides being a wonderful gesture, hugs also have several real benefits that are both physical and psychological. Hugging keeps us healthier and happier in the five following ways.

1. Hugs Reduce Stress

Hugs are incredible ways of relieving stress. If someone you love is stressed out, they most likely need a hug. When you show a person your support and care through touch, it can automatically reduce their feeling of discomfort or pain.

The act of hugging another person can make the person giving a hug feel better too. In a study, 20 heterosexual men were given electric shocks while their female partners held their arms (1). During the experiment, women’s stress receptors showed reduced activity while the part of their brain associated with maternal behavior showed increased activity. The response to hugging is deemed to be similar to the responses seen in this study.

2. Hugs Can Keep You From Falling Sick

In a study, researchers found that among the 400 participants, those who had a stronger support system and received more hugs had lower chances of falling sick (2).

Additionally, those who did fall sick showed less severe symptoms when their support system was larger and more present. This benefit can also be related to the stress-reducing effect of a good, loving hug.

3. Hugs Can Keep Your Heart Healthier

In another study, the participants were divided into two groups. One group of partners held hands for 10 minutes, followed by a 20-second hug. The second group sat in silence for 10 minutes and then for another 20 seconds.

When both groups were given a public speaking task after this activity, the partners from the first group showed lower blood pressure and a lower increase in heart rate than those from the second group (3).

This was comparable among men and women bringing us to the conclusion that hugging can help you function better in stressful situations while keeping your heart in better health.

4. Hugs Make You Happier

Biologically, hugs can increase the release of a hormone called oxytocin (4). Known by several aliases such as the love hormone or the cuddle chemical, oxytocin is released when you sit close to someone you love, or touch or hug them.

This hormone is associated with less stress and more happiness. It reduces the stress hormone nor-epinephrine while reducing your blood pressure. Some animal studies show that it also releases serotonin, known as the “happy hormone,” which elevates your mood and dispels feelings of anger and loneliness (5).

5. Hugs Are Responsible For A Higher Self Esteem

When you were a child, hugs often came to mean love, affection, respect, and validation. Therefore, from an early age, we associated tactile expressions of love with our self-worth.

As adults, whenever we receive hugs from our loved ones, they add to our feeling of self-worth. This, in turn, helps us maintain a higher sense of self-esteem and confidence in our daily lives.

With all these myriad benefits of hugging, we must ask the question how many hugs do we need a day?

How Many Hugs Do We Need In A Day?

Famous family therapist Virginia Satir is often quoted as saying that we need 12 hugs a day. In fact, given that hugging has so many valuable benefits, we need to get as many of them as possible.

However, at least four hugs a day are important to keep us feeling good about ourselves, ward off stress, and stay healthy both physically and mentally. On a normal day, you should not settle for less than eight hugs!

So, how many hugs do we need a day? There is no such thing as too many hugs! A hug could instantly make everything feel right and give you the much-needed boost to get through a difficult day. We have discussed how hugs have several physical and emotional benefits. They also help you communicate emotions that are too overwhelming to be put in words.

In a world where you wake up to bad news every morning, hugs feel like the only solution to keep us going. The best thing about them is they are free! So go, grab hold of your special people and hug them right now!

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if you don’t get enough hugs?

Not getting enough hugs may lead to touch deprivation if you don’t experience other forms of physical touch and cause depression. Children may develop communication disorders, aggression, and eating disorders if they don’t get enough positive physical touch from their caregivers (6).

Is it normal to crave a hug?

Yes. It is completely normal to long for human touch and hugs, especially if you have been touch-deprived for a while.

Why do guys hug from behind?

Guys hug from behind to express their feelings of protectiveness towards their partners, initiate a spontaneous intimate move, get into a dominant position and confirm how much their partner trusts him and surrenders to him, and maintain a physical touch going while allowing for movement.

What’s the difference between a hug and a cuddle?

A hug is generally a brief embrace with the arms around another person. Hugs can be very intimate or casual and friendly, depending on the type of embrace and its duration. A cuddle, on the other hand, is a more prolonged and intimate touch, generally between couples, that can be done in different positions such as spooning, huddling, leaning on each other, etc.

Key Takeaways

Sources

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How many hugs do we need a day to be happy?

Hugs are a particularly intimate and intense way of expressing emotions. Through a hug we can transmit our happiness or sadness. We can tell a person that they can count on us unconditionally or that we understand their state of mind. And all without having to resort to words.

However, hugging not only helps us connect with others and express what we feel. Giving hugs is good for health, for our brain and, of course, for our emotional balance.

How hugs influence our brain?

When someone hugs us, that contact activates the pressure receptors we have on the skin, which are known as Pacini corpuscles and respond mainly to deep pressure. These receptors immediately send a series of calm signals to the vagus nerve to, among other things, deactivate the area of ​​the brain that responds to threats and keeps us tense.

At that moment we begin to feel good because that nerve connects with nerve fibers that reach different cranial nerves and play an important role in regulating most of the key functions of our body, including blood pressure.

As a result of hugging and stimulating the vagus nerve, the heart rate and blood pressure decrease. The respiratory rate also slows down, which helps us breathe more deeply and fully.

In fact, the vagus nerve plays an important role in the parasympathetic system, which would be a kind of nervous system handbrake that is activated when we are under too much stress or are overexcited. Therefore, stimulating the vagus nerve through hugging allows us to recover from tension, relieves agitation and helps us develop a state of calm and well-being.

Through this mechanism, hugs come to “hack” our brain. In fact, they stimulate the production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter known as “the pleasure hormone” since it generates a pleasant feeling of satisfaction that helps to relieve stress and tension.

It has also been appreciated that hugging increases the production of oxytocin, known as “the love hormone”, which allows us to connect emotionally with other people and encourages us to trust them.

Best of all, the benefits of hugging are immediate. A study carried out at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International in Kyoto led a group of people to talk for 15 minutes with their partners, then some received a hug and others did not.

When evaluating their physiological parameters, the researchers appreciated that those who received a hug showed a significant reduction in the level of cortisol in the blood, the stress hormone that causes so much damage in our body.

Hugs help us feel good about ourselves

A friendly hug, or a gentle, affectionate caress, influence the brain’s ability to build body image, even in adults. This type of physical contact is also essential to develop and maintain a proper sense of our body.

According to a study carried out at University College London, the explanation is that this type of body contact provides very pleasant tactile sensations that generate a series of proprioceptive signals, which help us feel better in our body.

In practice, a caress or a hug not only sends proprioceptive signals to our brain that allow us to be more aware of our body, but also tells it that we are worthy of being loved. And those feelings make us feel very good.

In fact, these researchers warn that a lack of hugging and caressing could be a trigger – or an aggravation – for body image disorders like anorexia and bulimia.

Also, a hug in bed is also beneficial to fight insomnia. It helps you relax and sleep deeply.

How many hugs do we need to be happy?

We could all live without hugs, but it would be like dying slowly, a little every day. For this reason, the family psychotherapist Virginia Satir affirmed that “We need 4 hugs a day to survive, 8 hugs to maintain ourselves and 12 hugs to grow.” According to her, we need 8 hugs a day to be happy, which would be a kind of hug therapy.

In fact, in an UCLA investigation, researchers scanned participants’ brains while receiving electric shocks. Their partners accompanied them during the test and, in some cases, allowed them to hold their hand.

Thus they appreciated that the brain areas responsible for attenuating fear were activated, which helped them cope with the stress of the experience. The physical contact makes us feel more secure, which decreases our reactivity to potentially threatening experiences and makes us less sensitive to physical pain.

Another research conducted at Carnegie Mellon University revealed that hugging can dramatically improve our mood and make us see things from a more positive perspective, even in the worst circumstances.

These researchers called 404 people every night for two weeks to ask about their interpersonal conflicts in their lives, inquire into their mood and find out how many hugs they received during the day.

93% of people indicated that they received at least one hug during the days of the experiment and 69% had experienced at least one conflict with another person in that time frame.

Psychologists found that people felt better than usual on days when they had received at least one hug, and worse on days when they had a conflict with other people. However, if they received a hug the same day they argued with someone, their mood was better.

In fact, hugs even had a protective effect. When people received a hug, they had less conflict the next day and the bad mood for everyday problems was minor.

All these findings show that hugging has a powerful effect on our brain and helps us achieve a state of relaxation and well-being, while allowing us to better cope with stressful situations. Its buffering effect on stressful events also reveals that hugs are needed to be happy.

So even if you don’t get exactly 8 hugs a day, make sure you get your daily dose. Display a sign saying “cuddle therapy needed”. It is good for you and the person you hug. In fact, the next time you see a friend or family member distressed, just hug them. Sometimes words are useless. There is nothing like that intimate contact to strengthen ties and show you support.

Murphy, M. L. et. Al. (2018) Receiving a hug is associated with the attenuation of negative mood that occurs on days with interpersonal conflict. PLoS One; 13: e0203522.

Sumioka, H. et. Al. (2013) Huggable communication medium decreases cortisol levels. Nature; 3: 3024.

Crucianelli, L. et. Al. (2013) Bodily Pleasure Matters: Velocity of Touch Modulates Body Ownership During the Rubber Hand Illusion. Frontiers in Psychology; 4: 703.

Holt-Lunstad, J. et. Al. (2008) Influence of a “warm touch” support enhancement intervention among married couples on ambulatory blood pressure, oxytocin, alpha amylase, and cortisol. Psychosom. Med; 70: 976–985.

How Many Hugs Do You Need A Day?

Posted on Last updated: 17/05/2022

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X O X O hugs and kisses all around! But how many hugs do you need a day? Although a kiss is the epitome of romance and love, a hug is where it all starts. From a mother with her child, a friend consolidating a friend and even congratulations for any event from anyone to anyone, hugs are everywhere. However, did you know that hugging has a more scientific background than just an instinct-based action? After all, instincts stem from generations of common knowledge. Hugs have multiple scientific and psychological aspects behind it. There is even a recommended amount of hugs that you need every day!

The Science Behind Hugs

As previously introduced, hugs have a scientific background that allows it to release beneficial psychological effects.

First off, a hug has de-stressing properties. This is due to the pressure of a hug on a body. A common treatment for stress that has gained popularity in the past few years are weighted blankets. Also, for dogs who experience anxiety, there are specially made compression coats. All of these things have compression as a way of reducing stress as a common attribute. This is because pressure, at a moderate amount, forces tense muscles to relax, therefore decreasing the amount of cortisol, which is the stress-producing chemical in our bodies, to reduce itself. With the lack of cortisol to the brain, our emotions instantly calm down.

Research shows that hugging is a perfect ‘feel good’ immune system booster. People enjoy physical touch. Positive physical contact helps release oxytocin – the hormone of happiness, reduce feelings of loneliness and stress hormones. When hugging, people are present in the moment. Longer the better, too. A 20-second hug has numerous health benefits like releasing the tension, as well as soothing the nervous system.

Secondly, a hug is needed to grow. If you consider a human baby in comparison to other animal babies, they are pretty much useless. Unlike other animals, human babies take longer to develop the muscles in their bodies, to learn how to walk, to learn how to eat solid food and more. This is because humans need social interaction to grow. And what better type of social interaction than with a compassionate form of touch like a hug?

Lastly, besides what a hug can do physically within a body, there is also the fact of what a hug can visually give a person. By receiving a hug from a loved one, you know that someone in this often dark and scary world loves you and will be there for you. This factor alone can decrease levels of anxiety and depression.

What are some benefits of hugging?

When we’re excited, happy, upset, or trying to console another, we hug someone. Hugging appears to be universally soothing. It gives us a wonderful feeling. Hugging, it turns out, has been shown to make us healthier and happier.

When someone embraces us, the contact activates our skin’s pressure sensors, known as Pacini corpuscles, which respond mostly to deep pressure. These receptors transmit a sequence of calm messages to the vagus nerve, which deactivates the part of the brain that responds to threats and keeps us tense, among other things.

Hugging is believed to activate the production of the hormone oxytocin and lower cortisol levels, resulting in reduced anxiety, stress, and sadness.

The benefits of hugging, according to scientists, go beyond the nice sensation you receive when you embrace someone in your arms.

Hugs can help you relax

Touch can help persons with low self-esteem feel less anxious. When people are reminded of their mortality, touch can help them from distancing themselves. Even touching an inanimate object reduced people’s anxieties about their presence, according to the researchers.

Hugs could help you reduce pain

Some forms of contact, according to research, may be capable of alleviating pain. The immune system is directly proportional to the number of hugs.

People with fibromyalgia received six therapeutic touch sessions in one trial. Each treatment involved only little skin contact. The participants said their quality of life had improved and their discomfort had decreased. Hugging is another type of touch that might help you feel better.

Hugs can make you feel better

Oxytocin is a molecule in our bodies known as the “cuddle hormone” by scientists. This is because when we hug, touch, or sit near to someone else, its levels grow. Oxytocin is linked to feelings of happiness and reduced stress. Scientists discovered that this hormone has a significant impact on women. Blood pressure and the stress hormone norepinephrine are both reduced by oxytocin.

According to one study, the favorable effects of oxytocin were greatest in women who had better connections and hugged their love partner more frequently. When mothers held their babies close, oxytocin had a good effect.

Hugs help to relieve tension by demonstrating your support

Give a hug to a friend or family member who is coping with something difficult or unpleasant in their lives. According to scientists, providing encouragement to another person through touch helps lower the person’s stress. It can even help the person providing the comfort to feel less stressed.

The areas of each woman’s brain related with stress exhibited less activity, while those connected with the benefits of maternal conduct showed higher activity, according to the researchers.

Hugs could help your heart health

Hugging is beneficial to your heart. In one experiment, researchers divided a group of 200 individuals into two groups:

One study had loving lovers hold hands for 10 minutes before hugging for 20 seconds. The other group sat in silence for 10 minutes and 20 seconds with their romantic partners.

People in the first group had lower blood pressure and heart rates than those in the second group.

Increasing the production of feel-good hormones

Hugs boost oxytocin levels. Oxytocin (also known as “love hormone”) is a stress-relieving hormone that also improves heart health. It also aids in weight loss, blood pressure reduction, disease prevention, libido enhancement, stress reduction, and relaxation.

Dopamine is the pleasure hormone that makes a person feel happy.

Serotonin is an antidepressant hormone that improves mood, lowers loneliness, and controls anxiety. Hugging for 20 seconds or longer raises serotonin levels, making you feel happier and more optimistic in general.

Increased hug ratio leads to lower blood pressure, lower cortisol, greater healing, less cravings, and enhanced immunity.

Hugging a newborn child (kangaroo maternal care) helps the youngster gain weight and develop properly.

Hugging boosts self-esteem and makes children feel safe and secure, as well as wiser, more confident, and happier. A hug is beneficial to everyone.

Hug yourself

This may appear absurd, yet it works. Remember that the purpose is to release oxytocin and serotonin, so you might want to amp up the experience by writing down all the things you admire about yourself. It’s all about mental and emotional health, and yours is more vital than ever given the pandemic’s length and uncertainty.

Hugs can boost your overall well-being.

What happens when you hug someone for 20 seconds?

The feel-good hormone oxytocin is released when people hug for 20 seconds or longer, which strengthens the link and connection between huggers. Oxytocin has been found to improve immunological function and relieve stress.

What is the longest hug you can give? Guinness World Record

Two students from Iowa State University hugged for 31 hours in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest hug ever recorded. In summer, 2015, Nerem, 19, and her best friend Alec Norem, 20, decided to attempt to break a world record.

Nerem said: ”We were really bored and were looking up some records that we could possibly beat. We saw the world’s longest hug and said ‘Oh, we can do this one.’ We sent in an application to Guinness World Records and a month or two later, they contacted us approving that we could do it.”

Nerem added: “We had to have both arms locked around one another and we had to be standing the whole time. We were not allowed to sleep and it had to be in a public place where people would be walking around being witnesses.”

Friends would photograph and document evidence of their hug every four hours as proof. Nerem and Norem were given five-minute toilet breaks every hour, and fellow students brought pizza, pulled pork, and energy drinks to the event.

Alex Norem added: “I think the whole experience brought us a lot closer. It was such a positive experience for both of us. In your four years of college you want to do things that you’ll remember for the rest of your life and for her and I, this was perfect for that.”

Shortly after Nerem and Norem, the record was broken again. For 32 hours, 32 minutes, and 32 seconds, Kannenberg and Thompson hugged.

So How Many Hugs Do You Need A Day?

There is a requirement of eight hugs every day when it comes to maintaining your mental health. On the lower end of the spectrum, no person should get less than 4 hugs a day if they want to survive.

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This is because feelings of being alone can lead to anxiety and depression which can take a toll on your mental and physical health. Any mental illness affects the chemicals in your body, making you susceptible to physical illnesses. An interesting point is that, to grow, it is recommended that you receive at least 12 hugs a day. This is good news for babies as they are hugged almost 24/7 by their parents as babies have a lot of growing to do.

As the famous author, psychologist and family therapist Virginia Satir once said- hugging is the best therapy. We need 4 hugs a day for survival, 8 hugs a day for maintenance and 12 hugs a day for growth.

Conclusion

Hugs have been a part of our lives since we were born. It improves our self-esteem and self-worth, making us feel better. Many of us are running out of hugs due to social distancing, substantially diminished human touch, and more digital than physical connections.

In conclusion, however, it must be remembered that everyone is different and some people might need, or just want, more hugs than others. So why not spread the love!?

How Many Hugs Do You Need A Day?

“When you hug someone you love, do not just use your arms, use your heart too.” – Unknown

How many hugs do you need in a day?

At least 10 – that’s the number of hugs I get from students on any given day. I consider myself fortunate. Many people never get to regularly experience the reassuring and comforting embrace of another human being. If we understood the benefits of a hug, I believe we’d all be hugging a lot more and fighting a lot less.

Because I have the privilege of working with kids, I see firsthand how a hug can turn a child’s day around. After giving so many hugs, one begins to notice the signs that a hug is needed. The head hangs down like a branch burdened with heavy snow. The shoulders are slumped, the eyes cast down, and an aura of melancholy encases the child like the dirt and dust encircling Pig-Pen, the Peanut’s character. I muster up all the good vibes I can, put my arm around the child’s back, and offer a gentle squeeze and some encouraging words. The hug nourishes their system, and they are usually able to bound off to their next class.

Sometimes, I see a student approach me with a wide grin and bounce in their step. This student is having a fantastic day and has chosen to share the wealth. I sense immediately that they’re coming in for a hug. As I’m embraced, I’m refueled with positive energy and gratitude for my vocation. I can’t imagine receiving this mid-day, wellness tonic working in any other profession.

Studying The Significance of Hugging

Recognizing that my view on hugs is purely anecdotal, here’s what science tells us:

Hugging releases feel-good brain chemicals like oxytocin. Oxytocin is a neurotransmitter that acts on the brain’s emotional center, promoting feelings of contentment, reducing anxiety and stress. Hugging also stimulates dopamine and serotonin production in the body, increasing feelings of pleasure and enhanced mood.

A 2004 study found that students participate more in class when the teacher encourages them with a single touch on the forearm.

Hugs make us less susceptible to stress-induced illness according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. Research participants were exposed to the common cold virus. Those who received hugs were less likely to catch the cold. If they did get the virus, their symptoms were fewer.

Premenopausal women who received more hugs from their partners had lower blood pressure and heart rates.

Children require hugs for social/emotional wellness. Mary Carlson studied children who were deprived of touch in Romanian orphanages. These children experienced poor mental, motor, and emotional development.

Hugs feel good. They help prevent illness and reduce its effects, and hugs may act as a buffer from anxiety and depression. It’s important to be mindful; however, not everyone is comfortable with hugging. Before offering a hug to everyone in your circle of family, friends, and coworkers, it’s a good idea to ask permission first. A direct, “Would you mind if I gave you hug?” is all that is needed before receiving the wonderful benefits of this simple gesture.