Embrace yourself
In the days of the corona and closures, when contact became a crime, psychologists and scientists sought to understand how significant the impact of a simple hug is on the health of us all. Four different studies have been published on the subject in 2021 that may make you see this little expression of affection in a different light.

Simple expressions of affection, like a hug and a kiss, affect us favorably on almost every level. You don’t have to be an expert to feel it, but it’s definitely interesting to understand just how significant these little things are to us. Studies on the beneficial effects of a hug are nothing new and their conclusions have long been known – but some new research conducted on the subject now manages to surprise even those who are well acquainted with the data.

Psychoneuroendocrinology. As part of this, they took 159 healthy volunteers and put them under a lot of pressure – using a tool called the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Simply put, this is basically a fake job interview, whose impact on the level of stress is completely real and measurable. To test this, the subjects provided saliva samples that indicated the level of cortisol, known as the “stress hormone” and indicates the degree of stress felt in the body at that moment.

After being pressed, the subjects were divided into three groups. In one they received a 20-second hug from a research assistant, in the other they did not receive hugs and were asked to make paper airplanes. In the third and most interesting group, people were asked to hug themselves for 20 seconds. The findings, as stated in the saliva tests, showed at the end of the experiment a drop in cortisol levels in the two groups that received hugs, compared to the aircraft folds. According to the researchers, both people who received a random stranger hug and those who hugged themselves – showed on average the same decrease in stress.

The length of the hug also plays a role here
With all due respect to a hug from ourselves or from foreign research assistants, everyone knows that there is nothing that can match a warm hug from people we truly love. In this context, another study also published in 2021 suggests that the amount of time you choose to devote to a hug will also make it more or less effective.

In this study, random women were divided into 3 groups, but this time they all won a second, five or ten second hug. The findings showed that a five- or ten-second hug affected women similarly – but a one-second hug did not really produce a positive effect. So if you are embracing – count in your head to really feel that you are helpful.

2021 we will emphasize, was generally a year in which some interesting studies on hugs were published. Dr. Sebastian Auckleburg, an expert in psychology and neuroscience, explained the reason, in an article in Psychology Today:
“During the Corona period, closures and limitations, one of the things people were most lacking was touch. This led to a growing interest in the community of psychologists regarding the positive effects of the embrace.

In the days of the corona and closures, when contact became a crime, psychologists and scientists sought to understand how significant the impact of a simple hug is on the health of us all. Four different studies have been published on the subject in 2021 that may make you see this little expression of affection in a different light.

Simple expressions of affection, like a hug and a kiss, affect us favorably on almost every level. You don’t have to be an expert to feel it, but it’s definitely interesting to understand just how significant these little things are to us. Studies on the beneficial effects of a hug are nothing new and their conclusions have long been known – but some new research conducted on the subject now manages to surprise even those who are well acquainted with the data.

The study also found, not very surprisingly, that young people tend to hug and kiss more than adults. And while men and women reported in similar classes that they showed affection for their spouses, the researchers found that women used to kiss and hug friends, children, family and other people as well. The experts were not satisfied with this and also examined the difference between people who perceive themselves as conservative or liberal. According to them, liberals have shown more emotional openness than conservatives.

And why do you even need all this complex segmentation? The researchers explained that the very fact that we read about the subject and deal with it – may already make us more or less consciously – embrace the people who are dear to us and thus improve our health and theirs in the same hug (if it lasts five seconds or more of course).