What are the benefits of hugging?

in #steemstem6 years ago
It is no secret that hugs feel good but do you know why do we enjoy them so much and are you sure that we all enjoy them equally? Recent scientific studies have confirmed how hugs have both physiological and psychological benefits even though there are countries with cultural fear of hugging. I hope you enjoy hugs regularly and notice how they impact your health and well-being.

CC0 image, Pixabay, author: StockSnap
Do not worry if hugging does not come naturally to you. We are a diverse species and what one person finds normal may be completely insane to another. There are those who enjoy hugging everyone and have no problem opening their arms to strangers while on the other hand, we have those that fringe when someone touches them. Most of us are somewhere in the middle and have unwritten rules on who and when can hug us. That is fine. All that matters is that you are comfortable with yourself and your surroundings. Step out of your comfort zone now and then but when you want it, not when others want you too.

I will talk about how hugs are beneficial for our emotional and psychological health but let's start with something you did not expect, their benefit for our physical health. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University surveyed 404 healthy adults about the number of hugs they received over a two-week period, and then quarantined them and intentionally exposed them to the common cold virus. Results were amazing.

A hug a day keeps the cold away

Researchers tested if hugs act as a form of social support, protecting stressed people from getting sick and their findings were published in Psychological Science. In this small study, those who got frequent hugs were less likely than others to catch a cold and if they did, they had less severe illness symptoms. The reason behind this are lowered stress levels and we all know how our bodies have a stronger immune system when they are not under stress. The lead researcher concluded how the protective effect of hugs may be attributed to the physical contact and a behavioral indicator of support.

This, of course, does not mean that every hug helps so do not go around hugging people and expecting miracles. This is one of the ways that you can boost (at least temporarily) your immune system and help yourself feel better. When you are happy and satisfied, you are more likely to get better sooner but you already knew that, didn't you? You can read the research paper about this study here:

Receiving a hug is associated with the attenuation of negative mood that occurs on days with interpersonal conflict by Michael L. M. Murphy , Denise Janicki-Deverts, Sheldon Cohen

Let us stay on the physical benefits of hugging a bit longer. We have come along way from therapeutic touch being considered witchcraft. Today we know that our neurons fire up whenever we are in contact with other living creatures which is something that stayed with us ever since we left the wombs of our mothers. Babies especially need hugs and that therapeutic benefit (luckily for us) did not go away.

It all comes back to stress

No matter how often some of us try to explain and emphasize the effects stress has on our bodies, some people never learn. It really all comes down to stress. Your cardiovascular activity is the one most affected by it. There was an interesting study in which only 10 minutes of holding hands followed by a 20-second hug showed greater reductions in blood pressure levels and heart rate. You can check that research here:

Warm partner contact is related to lower cardiovascular reactivity by Grewen KM, Anderson BJ, Girdler SS, Light KC

The research confirms what I have been telling you all along, happy means healthy. One of the ways you can always help yourself is to lower your stress levels. It helps with your pain too. All you have to do is find ways that make you calm and relaxed, hugging is one of those ways. Your brain chemistry is not the same and overall hormone levels are different which helps your immune system not only work better but respond better to medicine too.

And here we are with its Majesty the Brain again. You didn't think I was going to skip telling you what exactly happens with your brain chemistry, did you? The afferent c-tactile neurons are responsible for all those benefits that I have mentioned before. They are found only in hairy skin and quite different than usual nerves that convey information about touch, pain, and pressure. CT afferents respond only to light and slow stroking.

A force as low as 0.22 mN is sufficient

Yup, that's right, only 0.22 milliNewtons of force is enough to elicit high impulse rates because CTs have thin-diameter axons lacking an insulating sheath of fatty myelin which makes their conduction velocity slow. A signal is conveyed along the axon at about 0.8–1.2 m/sec. When someone strokes your skin, CT impulse reaches the peak rates of 100 impulses per second but after about four seconds, they adapt to stimulation and firing decreases or stops. The great thing is they have a direct route into the brain where they trigger the release of endorphins. You can read about endorphins in my post about them here:

Endorphins - chemicals in charge of your happiness

Endorphins are neuropeptides, small molecules that produce an opiate-like analgesic effect and are chemically closely related to opiate drugs like morphine

The pathway CTs go on is an ‘afferent limb’ of the sympathetic nervous system. This means that the information it carries has a close relationship with regulatory and homeostatic processing. When someone strokes you gently, blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal increases in your posterior insular cortex. A positron emission tomography (PET) was used and showed how light stroking of the torso triggers a massive endorphin response in the human brain. Since feelings of psychological pain are processed in the same brain regions as our feelings of physical pain (anterior cingulate cortex and the periaqueductal gray), endorphins triggered by hugs help us deal with pain. You can read about the research with positron emission tomography here:

Adult attachment style is associated with cerebral μ‐opioid receptor availability in humans by Lauri Nummenmaa Sandra Manninen Lauri Tuominen Jussi Hirvonen Kari K. Kalliokoski Pirjo Nuutila Iiro P. Jääskeläinen Riitta Hari Robin I.M. Dunbar Mikko Sams

If you were wondering why people crave hugs and can get addicted to them, it is also because of endorphins. They activate regions of the brain associated with reward (orbitofrontal cortex) which makes us want to repeat that pleasant experience.

Modern social conventions too often push people not to touch others who are not directly related to them. This leaves us touch-deprived and we miss out on so many benefits from hugging. Science proves how regular hugs can have especially positive effects on both your brain and body so think about adding a hug or two into your daily routine. Family therapist Virginia Satir once said how we need 4 hugs a day to survive, 8 hugs a day for maintenance and 12 for growth but if you ask me, we need even more than that. You can never have too many hugs. Just be sure both people are wanting and enjoying them :)

Hug, hug, and then hug some more

I have to admit, I am a hug person. I really enjoy hugging BUT not with everyone. It takes me a while to allow someone to come closer than an arm's length so you will not see me hugging strangers. A handshake will do in those situations but once I get to know you, if you allow me, you will get hugged a lot. I do not enjoy crowds especially in small spaces and do not like to be touched by people I do not know so crowded elevators and concerts are nightmares to me. There is a mechanism in the brain’s frontal lobe that switches touch from pleasurable to unpleasant if the wrong person does it and it works extra fast in my case. How about you? How often do you hug? Let me know in the comments below and until then, if you are interested in learning more about this subject, check out these REFERENCES:

Hugs Help Protect Against Stress and Infection, Say Carnegie Mellon Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University
Here Are The Important Benefits You Get When You Hug Someone, According to Science from sciencealert.com
Touch May Alleviate Existential Fears for People With Low Self-Esteem from psychologicalscience.org
What Are the Benefits of Hugging? from healthline.com
CT afferents from cell.com
#HugaBrit: the science of hugs and why they (mostly) feel so good from ox.ac.uk

Until next time,
KEEP YOUR SMILE ON!

Image sources AND LICENCES in order of appearance:

- all images used in this post are free for commercial use, they are royalty free with the links to original images provided under them
- titles are made with the CC0 image from Pixabay that can be found here, here, here, here
- line divider that I use is from FREE CLIPART LIBRARY, and is here
- my bitmoji avatar was created on https://www.bitmoji.com/, visit the site to create yourown

PROUD MEMBER OF:


@steemitbloggers

Sort:  

It seems that once again I have made some less than healthy choices in my life. I'm not very good at hugging people until I know them well. I have managed to block my flinch reaction when somebody I just met gives me a hug, but I don't get comfortable in hugging until I KNOW you.

It isn't necessarily lack of contact, but lack of close contact for me, and it has absolutely nothing to do with illness transfer. It's all about my personal space.

Thanks Petra. I'm going to a place where I'll get and give some hugs today. Tomorrow's 4 might be problematic :) Unless doggy hugs count...

Doggy hugs count!!! All animal hugs count!
I get what you mean with personal space, I am like that too. I really like hugging but once I get to know a person and have absolutely no problem with saying no when when someone I do not like wants to touch me :D

I have to admit I'm not a "huggy person", and it's not because I don't want to be. It's something that started in my late childhood, and I think it's because I was very ill as a small child, on and off over years, and I think I may subconsciously associate hugging with being sick, dependent and a victim.
My parents picked up on this and although they've always been wonderful, caring and sensitive towards our feelings, they made quite an issue of my dislike of hugs, which made me even more self-conscious about it. My grandma was a great hugger though. I'm happy to hug friends as a greeting or when they're feeling upset, but I rarely initiate hugs because I've become used to it getting a big reaction.
I did suffer from a stomach bug over the past week, but before that I hadn't been ill for a year, so I don't think it has a detrimental effect on my health! Though I'm sure hugging – in the right situation – is good for you.

How do you respond to animals? Those nerves I was talking about fire up in contact with anything or anyone, it does not have to be a person and yes it can even be yourself gently touching your arm. Sure, it is better when someone else does it but there is a reason why we automatically put our hand and gently rub the part of our body that is hurting. I believe that these nerves have a lot to do with it too. Psychologically speaking, associating hugging with victim mentality can be considered an issue so you should probably work on that and it is a vicious circle when you start being self-conscious about not liking huggs. My hubby is not a huggy person either but we are slowly (12 years and counting hihi) working on it and introducing 4 hugs a day. The important part is that you do not feel pressured to do what you do not like doing and as long as you are fine with something than it should be fine with others too. Like I have said in the post, we are different and what is normal for one may seem crazy to another. You will hug or hug more when you will want to or have a desire to and as long as you are enjoying your social life and relationships with other humans, this is really not a problem at all so you have nothing to worry about. 💚

Yes I love cuddling dogs and cats - though some dogs and cats don't like to be patted. Collies often don't. But yes it's something I need to work on.

Hi @zen-art! I have been meaning to stop by since your last comment on my page! Thank you for your thoughtful thoughts! 😁

This write up about the benefits of a hug is pretty fantastic! I’m going to have to make some room in my life for more hugs! They are super healthy! Who knew!? 😊

Soooo! Question! What about High-Fives?! Maybe you could write something about that... I bet those are super healthy as well! 😊

You see... I’ve started this initiative called #HighFiveFriday SO! I guess I thought this might be their perfect time to mention it! Hahaha!

Well! On that note! Hugs & High-Fives! 🤗🙌🏻

Followed & Upvoted!

#HighFiveFriday

A high-five to you too! 😊
Yeah, they are good for you too because not only do they have physical contact but they are generally associated with reward in our brain and triggering endorphin release. If we are talking about western countries, it has culturally become imprinted in our brain to see high-fives as a mechanism of reward-like behavior where a person is satisfied, happy, and/or proud with something that we did so is reaching out for some kind of confirmation/affirmation of that, so kudos for the initiative!!!





This post has been voted on by the SteemSTEM curation team and voting trail in collaboration with @utopian-io and @curie.

If you appreciate the work we are doing then consider voting all three projects for witness by selecting stem.witness, utopian-io and curie!

For additional information please join us on the SteemSTEM discord and to get to know the rest of the community!

Thank you for your wonderful support and encouragement! 💚💚💚

This is one of the coolest things I've seen recently. What a positive way to start the day. ❤️

That video is just too cool. Choose the amount of contact you are comfortable with and learn it early. Thank you!

Yeah, I have seen the video, it is simply adorable!

A hug a day is indeed a natural medicine to cure the sickness of loneliness and low self esteem. Excellent post @ZEN-ART.

Yes it is, I am glad you enjoyed the post and thanks for your feedback!

I find hugging intimate and I do it with my closer obes, i mean I hug people butvthen I hug tight and letting go, me and my partner hug a lot without needing words. I miss hugging my dog Kira too. It is bonding.
Happy New Year, Petra
Hugs

Hugging is great and especially when you do it with people you love. Hug your rats too, you will both benefit from it. Much love and happy new year too you too darling! 💚

Okay, my all adult kidlets (18, 21, 23) are in big trouble now - I can use SCIENCE as a reason to hug the bejesus outta them! 😂

Seriously though, thanks for putting all this awesome info together! My brain is always happy after reading your posts. Brightest of blessings to you in this new year! 😊 💜

Hihihi, it is great when you can blame science for something, right? :)

My brain is always happy after reading your posts.

Best feedback a person can ever wish for! Thank you! 💚💚💚

In India we call "Jhappi" which help a lot in case of tense situation. Surprisingly , if you hold on any one in his/dire situation a littlle hug will do wonder by giving satisfaction unlimited. A hug is medicinal touch and giving a warm feeling which help in making life very easy . ...

Posted using Partiko Android

Yeah, it can make life much more easier and happier, seem like it can make it healthier too. Thank you for your lovely words.

Boosting heart health and helping to alleviate pain... who doesn't need that?

We all need that :) some more than others ;)