OK, I admit it, I’m a hugger. Of women that is, men, not so much. I never
used to be a hugger, but became one after we took up square dancing where
hugging is a part of the standard greeting and farewell. Since then, my hugging
skills have improved; I graduated from a sort of amateur hugger to a
professional because of one particular square dancer. She is a diminutive
woman, but ox-strong as I came to learn when she gave a bear hug that left me
pleasantly stunned, gasping for breath. Before then, I had been one of those
wimpy huggers who come close, but never engage in a soul-searching, breath-skipping
sort of hug that this woman offered. I was hooked. From then on, I became, like
her, a bear-hugger. I tried it out on one large woman for practice. I may have
overdone it a little.
“I almost peed my pants,” she said.
That was in the early days. Now, after years of practice, my hugging
skills are more refined and I have more appropriate clenches depending upon the
hug’ee and her skill level. (I learned early on that you should hold your
breath when you expect a bear hug to avoid the wet pants syndrome.) Clearly, the
man hugging President Obama is not skilled in giving bear hugs and needs advice
from a professional like me.
With
this background, you can understand how disappointed I was when I learned I had
missed National Hugging Day. This year America’s National Hug Day was January
22. It turns out that huggers have their own web site, http://www.nationalhuggingday.com/ where they explain about different types of hugs and why hugging is important. By the way, their
organization is apparently international as they have a German name, ‘Weltknuddeltag’, and a Swedish(?) name
as well, ‘Kramens Dag’. I
like the wet nuddle name even better than hug day.
The day was
launched on January 21, 1986 in Clio, Michigan. The idea of National Hug Day is to encourage everyone
to hug family and friends more often to reap the many benefits that hugging
offers. The originator of the idea, a Reverend Kevin Zaborney, has but one
caution: Ask first if one is unsure of the response [as my better half reminds
me].
Here are the
benefits of hugs according to Wikipedia:
“It has been found
that human contact improves both psychological and physical development. Hugging can also help build a good immune
system, decrease the risk of heart disease, and decrease levels of the stress
hormone cortisol in women. It has been shown that a couple who hug for 20
seconds have higher levels of oxytocin, and that those who were in a loving
relationship exhibited the highest increase. According to the American
Psychosomatic Society, a hug or 10 minutes of holding hands with a romantic partner can help reduce stress, and its harmful physical effects. In a
study, adults who had no contact with people had higher blood pressure and heart rate. Other studies have indicated that the touch of a friend
might not be as helpful as the touch of a partner but should not be avoided.”
Hugging is
practiced around the world. As you might guess, our Puritanical background in
the U.S. puts us behind other nations in the frequency of hugging. Of course,
there is at least one study: A 2003 study by the Touch Research Institute at
the University of Miami Medical School found that American couples spend only
one-third of the time touching that French couples spend. Now, we don’t want to
be behind the French, do we? Go hug somebody. And if you need a hug yourself,
let me know.
Bill
