The Healing Science of Hugging: Why Touch Might Be the Most Powerful Medicine of All
I must ask my husband for 20 hugs a day. He’s always resisting me smothering him and after about hug number ten he tells me he’s busy. As if he could be too busy for a hug.
Some things in life don’t need language, and the simple act of arms wrapped around you when words fall short is one of them.
A hug is hardwired into us like hunger or thirst. It might not be as dire if you go without one for a few days (disagree with that statement, but I’m trying to be practical here), but over time it actually does have some negative side effects.
We’re only beginning to understand that a hug might be one of the most powerful forms of medicine we have. And for the low-low cost of just a few seconds of your day.
Allow me to state the obvious for a second and point out that your skin is your largest organ, and it listens a lot more than you might realize.
When you’re hugged, like truly hugged, your body doesn’t just register touch, it translates it. Oxytocin is released…a hormone nicknamed the “cuddle chemical”, your heart rate drops, cortisol (your stress hormone) levels fall, all while endorphins rise, triggering warmth, ease, and even euphoria.
In those few seconds of safe contact, the world softens, your nervous system untangles, and the body remembers that you’re not alone.
Hugging and Stress Relief
We live in a world of buzzwords and burnout, and if you didn’t know that, I want you to email me what your job is and if you inherited your money.
Stress isn’t just an emotion…it’s a biological wrecking ball. Chronic stress is linked to everything from heart disease to autoimmune disorders to insomnia.
And a hug, well it’s one of the fastest ways to send the parasympathetic nervous system into slower gear. It slows your heart, calming your breath, and telling your body it’s okay to let go.
A 20-second hug can lower your blood pressure, and just few a day can rewire how you respond to stress entirely.
This isn’t spiritual fluff…it’s science, so be sure to tell your husband that the next time he grumbles about giving you a hug. Studies have shown that people who receive more hugs are less likely to get sick during high-stress periods. Physical touch is associated with higher levels of immune-boosting white blood cells, and it also enhances natural killer cell activity, important for fighting infections and even cancer cells.
It turns out, the immune system doesn’t just respond to germs, it listens to love. Which is both beautiful and exactly what I needed to hear today, so I hope it was for you as well.
A study from the University of North Carolina found that regular hugging was associated with lower resting heart rates, decreased blood pressure, better sleep, and greater emotional regulation.
It’s not far-fetched to say that hugging may help you live longer, because while medicine treats the body, hugging restores the soul, and the two are not separate. A hug is where grief collapses, where joy expands, where babies learn safety, and lovers relearn language. Touch is the first sense to develop in the womb, it’s also the last to go before we die.
Touch lives in our skin, and lingers in ourmemory. That hand on your back when the world fell apart, it’s still there.
Somewhere in the soft wiring of your nervous system.
Children in development stages, elderly individuals (especially those in isolation), trauma survivors, caregivers and healthcare workers, and you, probably if you’re reading this are all in need of more hugs.
In a post-pandemic world, touch hunger is a very real thing, and the cure isn’t a pharmaceutical.
It’s presence, warmth, pressure, and connection.
When trauma shakes the body, sometimes words feel useless. This guide is where to begin, and a hug might be part of that beginning.
You don’t need a reason to hug someone, or to ask for one, and you don’t need to fix anything first or earn it. The world can feel like cold steel some days, but your body was built for warmth.
Disclaimer: This article discusses research on physical touch and mental health. It is not a substitute for medical or psychological care.
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