Hugs: Benefits, Research, & Quotes

Have you ever given or received a hug and instantly felt better? That feeling is not just in your head. In fact, there are several health benefits of hugs that can positively impact you emotionally and physically. Let’s take a look at a few important benefits from the psychology hugging:

Hugs can: 

• Improve your relationships. Studies suggest that hugs are a form of nonverbal communication. What we can’t necessarily say through words may often be expressed through touch. Hugs can be friendly and platonic, while also supporting deeper intimacy if desired (Gooch & Watts, 2010).

 

• Lower your stress. Hugs provide an avenue for social support. Through touch, we may feel a sense of connection to others. When we feel stressed out, our bodies may produce elevated levels of cortisol, the body’s natural stress hormone. One study found that physical touch in the form of a hug was associated with lower cortisol levels in both the saliva and blood of their participants (Sumioka et al., 2013). 

 

• Reduce heart rate and blood pressure. Akin to lowered cortisol, hugs may support a reduction in elevated heart rate levels and high blood pressure. Research suggests that frequent hugging in interpersonal relationships was associated with higher levels of oxytocin, which is often referred to as the “love hormone.” An increase in oxytocin is thus associated with a decrease in heart rate and blood pressure. People who receive frequent hugs are therefore also less likely to be susceptible to cardiovascular disease and related illnesses (Light, Grewen, & Amico, 2005).

 

• Increase oxytocin and feelings of happiness. As we now know, oxytocin—the love hormone—rises with physical touch. Not only can elevated levels of oxytocin support heart health, but oxytocin is often associated with feelings of happiness. When your body is chemically producing oxytocin and therefore increasing happiness, you may also experience an overall better mood (Field, 2010). 

 

• Be a natural pain reliever. Hugs often have the potential to help diminish feelings of sadness, loneliness, and anxiety. While the emotional benefits for pain reduction from hugs are aplenty, hugs can also serve as a pain reliever for physical pain. Some research suggests that therapeutic touch as a form of physical treatment showed lower feelings of pain in patients with fibromyalgia (Denison, 2004) and cancer (Tabatabaee et al., 2016).  ​

Now that we have covered some of the many benefits of hugging, let’s take a closer look at the power of hugging and what hugs may say about care and compassion. In this video, Jeanie Haigh discusses how physical touch and the comfort of hugs can cause a ripple effect. Haigh is the Chair of Good News Bears, an organization that distributes teddy bears to children and adults who have been traumatized, abused, or severely hurt. 
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You may consider watching the full length of the video here:

Let’s take a closer look at some more research on hugs, their importance, and their impact on well-being. Here are some facts to check out:

• The average hug lasts about three seconds. The duration of a hug can be important. Shorter hugs may signify a quick greeting. Longer hugs tend to represent deeper emotion, intimacy, and connection between two or more huggers. Longer hugs also encourage the release of oxytocin (Keating, 1994). 

 

• Hugs support an increase in serotonin levels. Serotonin, a chemical messenger in the brain, supports mood regulation. Hugs not only encourage the release of oxytocin but also elevate serotonin, which can make people feel happier and less stressed (Field, 2002).  

 

• Hugs can be a form of mindfulness and meditation. Think about it. Mindfulness meditation encourages us to be fully present in the moment and aware of our thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Similarly, when we hug others, we are often immersed in the thought and sensation of participating in touch. Connecting our breathing with someone else when hugging helps us take a break from racing thoughts and focus on the other person (Hanh, 2005). ​

Aside from the several benefits of hugs that we listed above, hugs and overall physical touch can impact our brains chemically as well. Dr. David Linden, Professor of Neuroscience at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine discusses the scientific impact of hugs and touch on your cognitive and emotional health. Dr. Linden touches upon (no pun intended) the importance of hugging infants for childhood development, touching as a form of teamwork and camaraderie for athlete success, and how touch can influence our perceived levels of pain. He explains the psychology of hugging and how it affects our health and happiness.

Check out the full video here:

Marriage and family therapist, Virginia Satir, is famously known for her stance on how many hugs are necessary per day. She says, “We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. We need twelve hugs a day for growth” (Robinson, 2018). 

Psychological research on hugging does not have a conclusive answer about one specific magic number of hugs humans need for daily functioning and to support their well-being. Satir’s position is often looked at as a base model for a good range of hugs needed daily. Numerous psychological studies have suggested that giving and receiving hugs generously—or participating in therapeutic touch in general—has significantly better health outcomes than a lack of touch. Several hugs a day can be beneficial for infant development (Ardiel & Rankin, 2010), assist in preventing illness in later life (Rogers-Jarrell, Eswarana, & Meisner, 2021), and encourage social support and intimacy that are necessary for positive self-esteem (Keating, 1994).

Simply put, there is no exact number of hugs needed a day. What is essential to remember is that some hugs are much more beneficial than no hugs at all. Hugs, along with all other forms of touch, are often person-to-person dependent. That is, you may find that you prefer more hugs than others, or desire a different form of touch to comfort yourself. The frequency of touch ought to be left up to your own discretion.  

Different types of hugs can mean different things. Here are some hugs to explore:

• Side hug – You might side hug someone if you’re in a line or posing for a photo.
• Hug from behind – If you come up upon someone or they are sitting in a chair you might give them a hug from behind.
• Bear hug – A bear hug is tight and may squish all the air out of you.
• Heart to hear hug – When you use both arms and touch heart to heart, it is a more supportive, caring hug.
• Hugs with your butts apart – In a quick hug, you might wrap your arms around the other person and pat their back but not move your chest in close.

• “Millions and millions of years would still not give me half enough time to describe that tiny instant of all eternity when you put your arms around me and I put my arms around you.” – Jacques Prevert
• “A hug is like a boomerang – you get it back right away.” – Bil Keane
• “I have learned that there is more power in a good strong hug than in a thousand meaningful words.” – Ann Hood
• “Where I live if someone gives you a hug, it’s from the heart.” – Steve Irwin
• “That’s what people do who love you. They put their arms around you and love you when you’re not so lovable.” – Deb Caletti
• “If you’re angry at a loved one, hug that person. And mean it. You may not want to hug – which is all the more reason to do so. It’s hard to stay angry when someone shows they love you, and that’s precisely what happens when we hug each other.” – Walter Anderson​
• “The best gift you can give is a hug: one size fits all and no one ever minds if you return it.” – Marge Piercy

• “When the right person hugs you, it’s like medicine.” – Steve Maraboli
• “We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth.” – Virginia Star
• “A hug is an amazing thing. It’s just the perfect way to show the love we’re feeling but can’t find the words to say.” – Johnny Ray Rider

Sometimes, we may need the warmth of a hug but don’t have our favorite humans or fur babies around to hug. Need an alternative solution? Check out these hug blankets. The list below will be divided into different price brackets as we recognize it is important to be mindful of costs. Prices, however, are subject to change. 

Under $25

$25-50
​$50-$75

Interested in learning more about the psychology and science behind hugs and physical touch? Here are some books you may want to look into.  
For those of you out there with tiny loved ones, you may want to check out this book about respecting boundaries of touch for young children.

Here are some movies based on hugs:

• Free Hugs
• Smile or Hug
• Don’t Hug Me, I’m Scared

• Ardiel, E. L., & Rankin, C. H. (2010). The importance of touch in development. Paediatrics & child health, 15(3), 153-156.
• Denison, B. (2004). Touch the pain away: new research on therapeutic touch and persons with fibromyalgia syndrome. Holistic Nursing Practice, 18(3), 142-150.
• Field, T. (2002). Violence and touch deprivation in adolescents. Adolescence, 37(148), 735.
• Field, T. (2010). Touch for socioemotional and physical well-being: A review. Developmental review, 30(4), 367-383.
• Gooch, D., & Watts, L. (2010, September). Communicating social presence through thermal hugs. In Proc. Ubicomp 2010 SISSE Workshop.
• Hanh, T. N. (2005). Happiness: Essential mindfulness practices. Parallax Press.
• Keating, K. (1994). The hug therapy book. Hazelden Publishing.
• Light, K. C., Grewen, K. M., & Amico, J. A. (2005). More frequent partner hugs and higher oxytocin levels are linked to lower blood pressure and heart rate in premenopausal women. Biological psychology, 69(1), 5-21.
• Robinson, K. J. (2018). SATIR HUMAN VALIDATION PROCESS MODEL. Marriage and Family Therapy: A Practice-Oriented Approach.
• Rogers-Jarrell, T., Eswaran, A., & Meisner, B. A. (2021). Extend an embrace: The availability of hugs is an associate of higher self-rated health in later life. Research on aging, 43(5-6), 227-236.
• Sumioka, H., Nakae, A., Kanai, R., & Ishiguro, H. (2013). Huggable communication medium decreases cortisol levels. Scientific reports, 3(1), 1-6.
• Tabatabaee, A., Tafreshi, M. Z., Rassouli, M., Aledavood, S. A., AlaviMajd, H., & Farahmand, S. K. (2016). Effect of therapeutic touch on pain related parameters in patients with cancer: a randomized clinical trial. Materia socio-medica, 28(3), 220.