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All of us love affection and love to be felt wanted and cared for, right? One of the best ways to showcase that love is with cuddling. But, did you ever sit down to think what happens to your body when you cuddle?
Possibly not, right? Well, cuddling has been found to have a number of health benefits, most of which has been scientifically proven as well.
In here, we are going to highlight some of the most important health benefits of cuddle and snuggling that you probably didn’t know of.
Health Benefits of Cuddling
Cuddling does more than just help you recover from the wave of sadness that you are struggling with. It has actually been found to have amazing benefits in helping your overall well being for the best.
Let us take a look at some of the best health benefits of cuddling, shall we?
1. Promotes the Release of Oxytocin
If you are here wondering why people say that cuddles make everything better, they probably mean it. The reason why it is said so is that cuddling with someone you love or appreciate triggers the release of the “feel-good” hormone, oxytocin (R) which has beneficial impacts in helping improve and uplift your mood.
The release of oxytocin in the bloodstream has been found to have amazing impacts in helping get you out of the rut and sadness and help with the recovery.
2. Helps Combat Stress
If you have been struggling with a surmounting amount of stress, one of the benefits of cuddling is that it helps in reducing that for good.
As we did mention before, cuddling promotes the release of oxytocin which has direct impacts in combating the signs of stress, thus helping reduce the risks of higher cortisol levels (R) in the body. If you have been struggling to keep your health in check, it could be because of the high cortisol levels and cuddling has been found to help with that.
Cuddling also helps bring down the blood pressure, which further helps in getting rid of the stress in the long run.
3. Enhances Sexual Intimacy
While this might not reflect directly on your health but one of the most common benefits of cuddling is that it helps in improving the overall sexual intimacy with your partner.
Cuddling after making love is one of the most important ways to help restore intimacy and physical bonding with your partner which brings peace to your mind and can help improve the overall contentment in your heart.
Even a conducted study (R) between couples found that cuddling after sex resulted in better sexual satisfaction among the couples.
4. Better Sleep
One of the most important things that happen to your body when you cuddle is that it promotes better sleeping cycles.
You are likely to sleep better if you have a partner spooning you. This is one of the reasons why cuddling while sleeping is considered one of the best ways to fall asleep, especially if you struggle with insomnia.
Even for this, it is the oxytocin that plays a major role. Since, you are happy and feel good in that situation, the same has positive benefits in helping you sleep better.
Even a conducted study (R) found that the release and the higher levels of oxytocin in the bloodstream is associated with improved quality of sleep.
5. Can Curb Unnecessary Cravings
All of us struggle with cravings, don’t we? But, what if we told you that one answer to what happens to your body when you cuddle is that it stops your cravings?
Sounds too good to be true, right?
Well, it is actually true and again all because of the release of oxytocin (R) in the bloodstream.
The hormone has been found to have direct impacts on reducing unnecessary cravings and the desires and combats the risks of unprecedented weight gain.
It has been found to make you reach satiety faster which further helps prevent unnecessary causes of binge eating.
6. Reduced Blood Pressure
For those who tend to struggle with high blood pressure and the impacts of that, it has been found that one of the best health benefits of cuddle is that it reduces the elevated blood pressure. For those who tend to struggle with hypertension, this is considered one of the best ways to combat the issue.
The oxytocin levels in the body are what help alleviate the condition for the better.
If you have been struggling with the compromised levels of blood pressure, cuddling can actually help combat the problem for the better.
7. Boosts Immune System
If you struggle with labored immunity, one of the best ways to combat that issue is by cuddling.
The release of oxytocin which is experienced when one cuddle has been found to have beneficial impacts in helping boost the levels of the hormones that fight infection.
With the higher bout of antibodies in the body, it helps in improving the overall prospects of immune defence in the body as well.
Additionally, when you have positive thoughts in your mind, the same does reflect on your body as well, helping improve the overall well being of an individual.
8. Might Promote Better Heart Health
One of the benefits of cuddling is that it helps keep your overall heart health in check. If you have been struggling with high blood pressure and constant stress, cuddling helps in combating both the conditions, thus helping promote better health as well.
Not just that, cuddling has also been found to have amazing benefits in mitigating the issues related to the issues of heart health for the better. It reduces hypertension, hence promoting better heart rate and normal well being as well.
9. Helps Relieve Pain
Not many realize this but the process of natural healing with touch is propagated easily via cuddling. If you have been struggling with chronic pain, cuddling can help alleviate the symptoms and promote faster cure than never before.
Even though there aren’t many studies that explain why or how this happens, it is believed that the same is mainly propagated because of the higher levels of oxytocin in the bloodstream.
10. Reduces Inflammation
If you struggle with higher rates of inflammation in the body, one of the health benefits of cuddle is that it helps reduce that by a large fragment.
The combination of the oxytocin paired with the T-regulatory cells has been found to have amazing benefits in helping reduce the risks of the condition for the good.
The main way by which it impacts is by enhancing the levels of the inflammatory cytokines in the body that helps combat the issues of heightened levels of inflammation.
The oxytocin that is released while cuddling is the primary factor that helps with the said condition and that too in no time at all.
11. Helps Combat Anxiety
If you struggle with anxiety, you will find that cuddling helps out a lot in finding peace for your mind.
Constant feelings of anxiousness can stem from a number of reasons and cuddling helps with the release of the feel good hormone, which in turn, helps you feel good at the moment.
Not just that, the physical touch of another person also helps in grounding you, further helping promote recovery in no time at all.
Oxytocin does have positive benefits on the condition of anxiety and the overall anxiety markers, thus helping combat the issues for the better.
12. Helps New Mothers Bond With Their Child
If you just gave birth and want to strengthen the bond with your child, one of the best ways to do so is by opting for cuddling with your child.
The skin to skin contact has been found to impose a number of beneficial impacts on the body, helping improve the overall bonding with the child.
Doing this is very important to let the child feel secure and safe in their environment. Not just mothers, even dads can practice doing that.
If you have been wondering what happens to your body when you cuddle, these are some of the benefits that you probably didn’t know about. Make sure that you go around and cuddle more, because it is doing nothing bad but good to your body. There’s nothing wrong in showing affection.