Table of contents:
- What are the benefits of cuddling?
- 1. Keep us away from stress
- 2. Reducing fear
- 3. Make thoughts more positive
- 4. Good for your little one's development
- 5. Make someone 'free'
Do we all agree that hugs can make you feel safe and comfortable? Yes, when someone hugs us, sometimes all the anxiety, sadness and restlessness goes away. There is a feeling of warmth creeping into the heart. Did you know that hugging turns out to have benefits for our physical and mental health. Want to know what are the benefits of cuddling?
ALSO READ: Tips for Controlling Anxiety Attacks
What are the benefits of cuddling?
Hugging has a psychological and physical impact on us. Here are reasons you shouldn't miss a hug:
1. Keep us away from stress
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University asked 400 healthy people to do multiple hugs over a two week period. Then their health was checked. As a result, very few have caught the flu and stress.
A hug is one way to be in touch. Humans have a need to be touched (with compassion). When these needs are met, the hormones in your body can work properly. Hugs are known to lower insulin and improve your sleep hormones. Getting enough sleep will relieve you from stress. According to Tiffany Field, PhD, head of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine, reveals that hugging can reduce pain, anxiety, depression, and aggressive behavior.
The human body consists of nerves, when you hug a loved one, an electric spark occurs and is able to activate the brain and central nerve cells. Based on research related to body hormones and neural networks, affectionate touch can be associated with changes in IQ, reading and memory abilities, and reducing fear in children. There is an opinion that the lack of hugs is considered to be one of the triggers for the emergence of violence.
ALSO READ: Are You Passive Aggressive Person? These characteristics
2. Reducing fear
Fear is a feeling that humans must have. Yes, humans tend to think about things that haven't happened yet, and so fear arises. Even though the reality is not necessarily that bad. Sometimes these fears don't come true. As already mentioned above, not only in children, but also cuddling can reduce fear in adults. A study published in Psychological Sciences, says a hug can reduce the fear of dying.
3. Make thoughts more positive
Negative thoughts are the source of several problems. Stress, anxiety, and fear all come from negative thoughts in our minds. Building positive thoughts is not easy, it takes repeated efforts until "positive thinking" becomes a daily habit. Did you know that hugging also helps us to produce positive hormones?
Yes, a hug makes the body release the hormone oxytocin or we call it the love hormone. This hormone is a messenger that functions in the emotional center of the brain, so you can feel satisfaction, reduce anxiety, and stress.
Apart from oxytocin, the body will also produce the hormone serotonin, this hormone can balance your mood. There are times when we feel alone and this is unavoidable. A hug can get rid of that lonely feeling.
4. Good for your little one's development
Affectionate touch is a vital part of a baby's development. According to Mary Carlson, a neurobiologist who studied the long-term impact of the lack of touch and attention on babies in Romanian orphanages in the 1970s and 1980s, said the impact of lack of hugs could hinder the development of their adult behaviors. A study at Emory University also found that there was a link between stress as an adult and the number of hugs he got as a child.
ALSO READ: 8 Simple Ways to Feel Happier
People who are accustomed to getting or hugging from a young age, usually adults will be less stressed and anxious. This helps to form a good behavior and life for a person. A hug is also able to generate a bond between parent-child. Of course we all know that crying babies feel comfortable when given a soothing hug by their parents. It turns out that we already need that touch of affection from childhood.
Hugs can also help strengthen a student's mentality when he gets bad grades or has academic problems. So, when our child doesn't produce satisfying results, we should give him a hug instead of scolding him. He also feels scared and disappointed, when we comfort and support him, he will feel appreciated and will probably do better. Reprimanding your child is a must, but it should also be added with support that makes it even better.
5. Make someone 'free'
In Eastern culture, sometimes touching and hugging only happens to certain people. We are not used to hugging just anyone. But that doesn't mean you have to hug everyone who scolds you on the road, it's not like that. But we can give our loved ones a hug, even if it's not too close. Why so? It turns out that a hug is an expression too. A hug can be interpreted as expressing hidden feelings. After that expression is shown, of course we feel relieved.
