The Science Of Hugs – Health Benefits Of Hugs You Didn’t Know
When hugging can be extremely joyful or reassuring or warm, what you don’t know is that hugging makes you healthy as well. There are plenty of health benefits of hugs that most of us don’t realize, but, here are the reasons why you should hug a little more.
We all tend to express our feelings in our own unique ways. Some tend to speak up about how they feel while others express their emotions by hugging or gently touching hands or any other sort of physical contact. However, today, we will be talking about why hugging is great for us. Not just for our emotional reassurance or relaxation but for our health as well. Hugs are not just the sign of joy, love, or happiness. Hugs are more than that. Read below why hugging doesn’t only make you happy but healthy.
Incredible Health Benefits Of Hugs
Reduces Blood Pressure Problem
Did you know you can control your blood pressure just by hugging someone you love? Shocking, isn’t it?! But this is true, hugging helps you in maintaining your blood pressure to the normal level. When you hug someone, your body releases oxytocin hormone that helps you in reducing cortisol level. And this cortisol helps your body in maintaining normal blood pressure. Hugs release the tension inside your body, keep your blood pressure to normal, and activate the pressure receptors called Pacinian corpuscles. These receptors send a signal to the brain for lowering the blood pressure level.
Reduces Heart Diseases Risk
Hugs are also a good way to reduce the risk of getting heart diseases. Oxytocin released while hugging controls your heart rate and reduces the chance of cardiac illness. A study shows that when you hug your partner more often they maintain healthy heart rate as compared to the partners who don’t hug often. Maybe it’s not just about showing your love and care but to actually help them in living a healthy life.
Healthy Immune System
Hugging boosts your immune system by producing enough of white blood cells that help you in fighting diseases. And thus, making your immune system stronger.
Reduces Stress
Hugging helps you in fighting stress and depression.When you get a friendly hug you begin to feel loved and needed and this helps you a lot in relieving stress, depression, and anxiety. Thus, making your mental health better. So, if you know someone you love who is struggling with depression, you should hug him/her more often.
Relaxes Muscles
Oxytocin also makes your muscles relaxed and strong. So, when you hug someone you don’t only make yourself or them feel good but it is also a good way to make your muscles strong and relaxed.
Alleviates Pain
Hugging removes pain. They work as a great painkiller. Hugging releases endorphin and it helps you big way in relieving pain. Endorphin blocks the pain pathways and enhances your soft tissues circulation.
Improves Memory
Oxytocin also plays its role in improving your memory. So hugging is not only a great way to stay healthy but also intelligent and alert. Hugging helps you in enhancing your memory performance and remembering each and every important stuff.
Cures Fever
When you or someone you love is suffering from a fever and is all cranky and keeps whining all the time, here is a great way to sooth them up. Hugging someone when they have had fever helps a lot in curing their fever and making them feel good. A study suggests that when you hug someone who has fever or cold, you are actually helping them in recovering faster.
Enhance White Blood Cells Production
Hugging increases the production of white blood cells inside your body. Hugging stimulates the thymus glands and helps your body in producing the right amount of white blood cells. These white blood cells help you in fighting diseases, bacterias, and prevent inflammation.
Improves Sleeping Process
So we all love to cuddle while we sleep or at least get a good night hug from someone who means a lot to us. And here is why hugging is not only a love expression but a great way to make your loved one sleep healthy and happy. Hugging stimulates cortisol that helps you in having a good night sleep. This doesn’t only help you at night to have a sound sleep. But in morning to wake you up energetic, positive, and happy.
Emotional Benefits Of Hugs
Hugs have many emotional benefits that we overlook most of the times. Here are some of the reasons why we should hug more often in order to make ourselves emotionally consistent and happy.
- Hugs are a good way to increase the bonding between two persons. When you hug someone Oxytocin is released from pituitary glands that helps in making your relationship with the person even stronger.
- It enhances the trust level by building empathetic feelings.
- Hugs are a good cure for loneliness. When you hug someone you are actually reassuring them that you are there and they are certainly not alone.
- It builds the sense of protection and safety among the people. They tend to feel that there is someone who is having their back all the time.
- When you hug someone you are giving them the idea that they should feel free to communicate with you. In this way, hugs improve the communication level between two people and provide them ease in communicating.
- Hugging cheers you up and make your mood even better. That is why we tend to hug each other when we are down or sad.
- Hugs provide self-esteem and boost the confidence level in a person.
- Hugs remove fear and improve the social bonding by alleviating social anxiety.
- Hugs help you in revealing your emotions and feelings not just to others but to yourself too.
- Hugs show appreciation for others. When we hug someone when they achieve something good or big, we are actually appreciating them in a way that makes them feel proud of themselves.
- Hugging makes you happier and light-hearted.
- Hugging makes you feel loved and let you express your love by just a simple gesture.
Maybe these are the enough reasons to hug more often and stay happy and loved. Keep hugging, keep loving!!
