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It's always a good time to reflect on your own mental health and what you can do to self-care, but also how you can provide others with support who may be struggling.
One obvious and simple way to immediately help someone is by offering a hug. Hugs are, of course, instantly comforting, but research has previously shown that hugging does in fact have many physiological benefits that can positively impact your health and mood whether you’re the giver or the receiver.
Isabel Leming, Senior TMS Technician at the clinic Smart TMS, simply highlights what the power of a simple hug actually is:
Loneliness
Primarily, hugs can provide an instant surge in oxytocin (also known as the "love hormone") levels, which has benefits for a number of mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety. Oxytocin is a neurotransmitter that acts on the brain’s emotional centre, promoting feelings of contentment, trust, intimacy and bonding.
Heart Disease
Oxytocin also causes us to feel more relaxed, decreasing tension and levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol is responsible for high blood pressure and heart disease. As hugs decrease these levels, it is suggested that regular hugs could eventually protect against heart disease, which can lead to a situation of life or death.
Regulating response
Hugging also increase levels of dopamine, responsible for regulating our emotional response and reward circuit in the brain, which evidence reveals is low in people with mood disorders such as depression.
Mood Boosting
Serotonin, the neurotransmitter responsible for mood which has also been linked to depression also increases when we hug someone meaning your mood can instantly be improved just by the physical act of it.
Stress
The boost of hormones such as Oxytocin, Cortisol and Serotonin ultimately make us feel better which can really help if you’re feeling stressed out. By taking the time to hug someone, even just for a minute, it allows you time to calm down and know that you are supported by someone.