Do you know a good hugger?
A person that brings ya in nicely, doesn’t over squeeze or linger?
And leaves you feeling happy, smiley, warm and fuzzy in the heart?
I’m lucky to know quite a few!
Some of my patients are the best huggers!
Yes, I hug my patients, often.
There’s a particular one I love to get hugs from, he’s known as Tommy Happens and while he’s a bit clumsy, he has the hugging down to a science!
Hugs are so special to me – it’s one of the reason why I won’t give up flying back to WA state to see patients.
Research on hugging has shown it to …
- lower inflammation by reducing inflammatory cytokines
- boost oxytocin the “love” chemical
- lower blood pressure
- reduce cortisol
- minimize interpersonal conflict
- decrease the severity of the common cold
With all those benefits I don’t know why we’re not hugging more!
And that last benefit – reducing the severity of a cold…
…interesting right?
I know I felt better as a kiddo when Mom hugged me while I was sick.
Thanks to the fear of contracting the recent bugs de-jour it’s likely there are a lot of people not getting hugs.
This makes me sad as the holidays are the best time to boost your oxytocin with hugs!
Yes, you may have that relative that lingers too long or squeezes the breath out of you or makes it awkward.
Laugh about it!
Some hugs just are awkward…maybe you have things in your hands, you’re trying to figure out how to hug “heart to heart” as the experts say, maybe you’re short like me and you come up to most people’s chest!
Leave it all aside and get your hugs on!
And if you’re worried about catching something – bump up your vitamin D3 2,000 IU on the holiday and get CoFix Nasal Spray – I’ve used it for every flight back and forth to WA, and all over the US and Canada since 2020 and I have not been sick once!
Spread holiday cheer with hugs!
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Don’t forget your family members or friends that live alone…
In a Canadian study, 20,258 adults, aged 65 years and older reported higher self related health when they had hugs available to them “all,” “most,” and “some” of the time compared to those who reported hugs available to them “none of the time”!
Pretend you’re doing a research study like these students…
20 students at Sam Houston State University had their levels of inflammatory cytokines and tumor necrosis factor tested before and after a 2 week series of getting as many hugs as they could!
What happened?
Their levels of cytokines, white blood cells that cause inflammation reduced!
This year my family is celebrating the loss of the guy that made hugging a thing in our family, my cousin Vic was everything you’d imaging from a 6 foot plus guy that grew up on the North Side of Chicago – the accent and all – a gem.
When you arrived at his house – you got the biggest hug at the door and he never missed one on the way out.
Our family wasn’t much on hugging before him and now my cousins have taken on his tradition and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
So…
“Hey, how about a hug?” (click HERE to see this quote in action from the most quoted movie by my husband & I and probably a lot of us 40 somethings!)
Sending lots of hugs from my family to yours this season and throughout the year!
Hugs to your health,
Dr. J
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