Did you all know that, starting today, it's National Hug Holiday Week? On the Hugs for Health Foundation's web site, it says that "huggers across the country are invited to increase hug abundance and make a difference one hug at a time!"
This week of hugs is sponsored annually "to increase awareness of the need
to provide hugs, friendship and volunteer support for our nation’s elderly in senior and long-term care communities." (I just love this!!!)
On the site (www.hugs4health.org), there is a helpful list of hugging etiquette:
1) Always respect another's space.
2) Ask permission before hugging.
3) A hug is a compassionate gesture, hug accordingly.
4) A hug is a gentle embrace, not the Heimlich Maneuver.
5) Be "in" the hug, don't simply go through the motion.
HAPPY HUGGING!
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Great idea! The best part is that hugging is fantastic for our health. Harvard's Health Letter reports that recent research found that women who often hug their partners have lower blood pressure than those who do so infrequently.
Among the more promising touch therapy approaches:
* Healing touch. Practitioners use their hands above or on the body, using a gentle touch, with the intent of affecting the body’s energy fields. One study found that patients had shorter hospital stays if they received healing touch before and after open-heart surgery.
May 5, 2008 - 7:51am* Reiki. This centuries-old practice involves light touch over different parts of the body in an ordered sequence. In one study, people who underwent Reiki sessions before cardiac catheterization reported feeling more confident, and their cardiologists said these patients were more relaxed and cooperative.
* Massage therapy. Massage uses various techniques to manipulate the body’s soft tissues through pressure and movement. A study found that systolic blood pressure dropped significantly in individuals who received massage therapy compared with those who had not.
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