Benefits of hugging: Relieves anxiety and pain (so says science)

A hug. In the years of the pandemic, we have had to sacrifice this simple and important gesture, to avoid the serious risks of transmitting the virus. January 21 is World Hug Day, an event born in 1986 by Kevin Zaborney, a priest from Caro, a town in Michigan (USA). Even science has now proven its powerful effects: it improves mood, bringing a feeling of well-being and happiness linked to the release of serotonin. It reduces anxiety, thanks to the production of oxytocin.
It increases self-esteem and, according to some studies that have formulated this hypothesis, it even seems to reduce susceptibility to upper respiratory tract infections, by interfering with those stress factors that affect the immune response.
Starting from the first months of life, numerous studies worldwide in recent years have investigated the advantage of skin-to-skin contact and hugging between mother and child. This approach, first analyzed since the mid-1970s, has significantly changed the management and care of healthy and at-risk newborns, demonstrating a reduction in infant mortality and morbidity, significant effects on clinical stabilization, and reduction of stress and pain during medical examinations or procedures.