Before we hugged constantly, almost without realizing it. And now that we cannot do it, especially when there is a case of coronavirus at home, we miss it a lot. Why do we need it so much?
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, families take extreme precautions and dispense with hugs, especially when there are suspicions of being infected, to avoid the spread of the virus. It is at these times when we most realize how present hugs are in our lives and how much we need them. This gesture of affection is so present in our day to day that many times we are not aware of it. We get used to it in such a way that it loses its meaning, becoming a mechanized and automatic act.
However, in these times of pandemic we realize the importance of touching, covering, accompanying, calming, welcoming hugging. When someone offers us a hug, they are putting us back together, charging us with energy, injecting warmth, giving us affection, relieving us, comforting us.
Dafne Cataluña, director and founder of the IEPP, European Institute of Positive Psychology, explains to us everything that is achieved with hugs and why it affects us so much to have to do without them at the moment
DO WE REALLY HUG EACH OTHER SO MUCH?
The hug is used from minute one of life because the sense of touch and the need for contact is one of the most developed that babies have and with which we arrive in this world.
In adulthood we hug and hug us all the time: we hug to calm pain and crying, we hug to show love, we hug to comfort in the face of failure or loss, we hug to welcome grief and sadness, we hug when a goodbye arrives , we hug to thank and congratulate on an achievement achieved.
But the act of being hugged is something we all remember from a very young age. And it is that the first, very first thing that a mother and father do with a baby when it arrives in the world is precisely that, to hug it.
According to the well-known and studied Attachment Theory of John Bowlby, babies come into the world with an innate and biological programming to create a bond with the mother and in this way to survive and get protection.
- Several experiments were carried out in which orphaned children were observed, deprived of attachment and contact with the mother figure, and it was found that these children later suffered negative and unpleasant consequences that impeded their emotional and social development in a satisfactory way.
- The conclusion they reached is that it is essential that the little ones feel the care and that their needs for affection, affection and attachment are covered.
BENEFITS OF HUGGING
We miss hugs a lot these days because they improve our physical and emotional health, as proven by multiple investigations. Here is a list of six of the most important benefits of hugging:
- The hug completes our need for affection. Affection is one of the basic needs of the human being, as are the needs for food or rest, for example. And the hug is one of the ways in which affection reaches us.
- The hug adds confidence and security. The human being arrives in this virgin world of hatred, clean of selfishness, but also inexperienced, insecure, defenseless, fragile and contact and hugging give us that security and confidence so necessary to develop little by little and for proper emotional functioning.
- The hug improves our self-esteem and encourages us. What happens when you have a low spirit one day and you get an unexpected hug? As your mood and self-esteem rise, the person automatically feels better. If you don’t believe it, start practicing it.
- The hug generates pleasure. In the same way that when we eat chocolate our brain secretes hormones related to pleasure, specifically dopamine and serotonin, when we hug or hug us, exactly the same thing happens.
- Hugging reduces stress. The hormones already mentioned exert another function together, that of reducing stress levels generating calm. So, another of the benefits of hugging is precisely that: the reduction of stress.
- Hugging lowers blood pressure. It has been proven that people who have more physical contact and receive hugs on a regular basis, have lower blood pressure than those who do not receive them regularly.