#Relationships: Cuddling With Bae Can Keep The Doctor Away. Here’s How

#Relationships: Cuddling With Bae Can Keep The Doctor Away. Here’s How

Each one of us has mood-food, which is basically a dish that fixes your heart instantly. For some, it’s street Chinese, for some a cheesy pizza and when catastrophe strikes, a big tub of creamy ice-cream. Whenever I need comfort, I reach for a bowl of cereal; don’t judge! But if there’s one thing that is even more efficient than that, it has to be a long session of cuddling with bae. Even sex can’t do what cuddling can and that’s probably why, sometimes all you want is just canoodling with your partner. That’s probably why we sleep hugging a pillow and hug someone who could use a little cheering up.

And when I say, cuddling can fix almost anything, I am not just talking about your mood. It comes with a plethora of health benefits, so may we indulge in this magic formula, every chance we get. Why do you think cats lead such happy lives? Here are some health benefits that cuddling gives us. Not like we need more excuses to cuddle, but here are some.

1) It satiates skin hunger

I didn’t know of this until recently! Skin hunger or touch starvation is what we feel when we have been craving physical contact. Sure, Indians don’t hug enough, because our culture deems just any physical display of affection as inappropriate. “We benefit by hearing ‘I love you’ or a smile or interacting with people in non-tactile ways … but when we have the ability to be in physical contact, to touch, hold hands, hug, kiss — that’s another whole category of mental and physical health benefits such that everything else we do is an imperfect substitute,” Kory Floyd, a communications professor at the University of Arizona told Insider. “When we feel alone, when we lack the ability to interact with people in familiar and comforting ways, we feel vulnerable, and we feel under threat and under attack,” Floyd added. Cuddling with your partner can satiate your skin hunger, and make you feel at ease.

2) Strengthens your immune system

Serotonin is a hormone that makes you feel happy and physical contact releases it in abundance. Did you know that cuddling can help you ditch the flu? According to a study by Carnegie Mellon University, people who hugged more were found with better immunity against the common cold virus. In fact, even those who did get sick showed milder symptoms in comparison to people who weren’t physically affectionate. I guess cold people catch a cold easily! I need some vitamin C in my life!

3) Improves heart health

Tiffany Field of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami told Wired that human touch makes “the nervous system slows down, heart rate and blood pressure decrease.” Another research from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill concluded the same, in fact, the difference was seen in just 10 mins of hugging and hand-holding. What does that mean? Lazy Sundays, sleeping in with bae, with AC blasting cold air can actually improve your heart health. Whoever said you needed cardio workouts for that!

4) Reduces anxiety

Tiffany Field also revealed that human touch relaxes you. “Your brain waves show relaxation. Levels of stress hormones such as cortisol are also decreased,” Field said. In fact, even when your cortisol has already spiked and you’re stressed, cuddling can ease your anxiety. “Having this friendly touch, just somebody simply touching our arm and holding it, buffers the physiological consequences of this stressful response,” Matt Hertenstein of DePauw University told NPR. Maybe that’s why when I spend a day cuddling with bae, I get the same feeling I get after a spa day. I am not even exaggerating! It’s just rejuvenating and the best thing, free of cost.

ALSO READ: Demisexuals Can’t Feel Sexual Attraction Without Feeling A Connection. 5 Signs You Could Be One!

5) Promotes good sleep

I am not one of those people who fall asleep the moment they hit the bed. Anyway, I feel those are endangered species in our generation that’s so hooked on to digital devices. We are immersed in our phones, texting, scrolling through our feed, or catching up on just another episode before we sleep. But guess what, nights when I sleep in bae’s arms, I pass out within five minutes like a baby, unless the cuddles are supposed to be the start of something. When we cuddle, oxytocin is released in our body which does the job of calming us down. It also thus help induce sleepiness in us, which is a boon for some of us with problematic sleep cycles. Now, all we need is a bae and a bed in a house where our parents won’t throw both of us out. Too bad, our society just doesn’t care about the health of unmarried individuals!

ALSO READ: Here’s Why More Than Sex, I Want To Kiss Endlessly, Cuddle And Sleep In His Arms

Akanksha Narang

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