No matter if it’s from your family member, friend or sweetheart, a hug can make you feel loved and wanted. Did you know that cuddling is actually good for your health? Read on to know more about it!
Just because you don’t have a significant other doesn’t mean you should miss out on all the perks of embracing and being embraced back. The same is true if you are living several miles away from your family and friends. Never underestimate the unconditional love a furry pal can offer! In other words, a hug that means something is good enough to let you enjoy the many different benefits it offers. Here are some of them:
Getting a Hug Can Ease Stress
Running out of good ideas on combating stress? Cuddle someone! Being in the arms of an important person helps ease anything that can leave you worrying — work, financial problems, uncertainties in life, etc. Knowing that somebody loves you dearly is usually enough for you to feel relaxed as well as gain the confidence you need to face life’s challenges.
Hugging Can Boost Your Immune System
Everyone knows that stress can cause your immune system to hit rock bottom, leaving you more susceptible to having infections such as the common cold and flu. Getting a hug is a great way to release stress, thus saving your immune system from weakening. Cuddling is one of the best medicines out there!
It Helps Lift Your Mood
It’s no secret that a hug can put a smile on your face. The scientific reason behind it? Hugging causes the release of oxytocin, a hormone produced by your pituitary gland and is responsible for so many things, including making you feel happy. If you are feeling glum, get yourself locked up in someone’s loving arms!
An Embrace Can Make Pain Go Away
Other than combating depression, oxytocin also helps decrease pain levels, say the experts. Having skin-to-skin contact is proven to release oxytocin, thus warding off any pain that you are experiencing. So before you pop a painkilling pill in your mouth, give a hug a chance to ease that tension headache or aching knees.
Being Hugged Helps Relieve Anxiety
There are so many ways to relieve anxiety. Some examples are deep-breathing, doing yoga, having a cup of chamomile tea and listening to soothing music. Getting a hug can also help zap your anxiety in a snap. Nothing can make your worries go away faster than knowing someone who cares for you is around.
It Helps Regulate Blood Pressure
High blood pressure can wreak havoc to your blood vessels, heart and other organs such as the eyes and kidneys. That’s why you should do your best in keeping high blood pressure in check by opting for well-balanced meals, a healthy lifestyle and regular exercise. Studies have shown that hugging also helps make your blood pressure normal.
Hugging May Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease
With the combined blood pressure-lowering, mood-lifting and stress-busting effects of a hug, your chances of suffering from a heart disease may be reduced considerably by cuddling. So go ahead and hug and be hugged if you want to live longer. Something that’s heartwarming is actually good for your heart!
It May Even Make You Look Younger
Everyone knows how stress can age your face. That’s why hugging more often can be regarded as a cost-free beauty product that helps keep those fine lines and wrinkles at bay. Since hugging also makes you feel happy, that smile on your face can instantly make you look several years younger — no scalpel or botox involved!
