A new study investigates how hugging relates to mood and life satisfaction.
KEY POINTS
- A new study investigated the association between hugging, mood, and life satisfaction.
- On average, people in the study hugged others six times a day and hugged four other people a day.
- More hugging was associated with better mood.
- Single people appear to benefit more from hugs than those in relationships.
Hugging has been shown to decrease stress and positively affect physical health in several ways, including lowering blood pressure. However, scientific studies on how it affects psychological well-being are rare. A new study, now published in the scientific journal Journal of Nonverbal Behavior (Packheiser et al., 2022), was therefore focused on investigating how hugging relates to general life satisfaction and daily mood. (Disclaimer: I was one of the authors of this study.)
