Ah the hug. Remember when we could hug? We were actually a lot healthier then. Why?
The act of hugging releases a hormone known as Oxytocin, or the “love” hormone, leaving you feeling happier, approved, and calmer. But oxytocin has powerful effects beyond just giving you warm-fuzzies.
Let me introduce you to another hormone known as Cortisol. Our “stress hormone” and the hormone that loves to break down delicate, hard-earned muscle and turn it into sugar. That’s right - you don’t have to even eat a donut to get too much sugar in your system. Your body can do that all by itself! More and more muscle breakdown, and more and more elevated blood sugar leads to fatty weight gain. But, now let’s bring in Oxytocin, Cortisol’s public enemy number one…..
Oxytocin helps to synthesize cortisol and burn it up in the system before it eats up your muscle. It combats the effects of high cortisol and stress. The more oxytocin you have, the lower your cortisol response is to stress and the more you will keep your muscle and keep weight off.
So hugging could actually help you lose weight?
Yes!
So maybe you should rethink hugging. Even if the world has thwarted the healthful hug, there are still those you can readily hug daily in your little inner circle: spouses, kids, pets, even yourself.
So rather than counting reps today, let’s count how many people we can hug and keep that cortisol in it’s proper balance. You could be just a couple hugs away from a couple inches off your waist!