I’m a hugger yep one of those I tend to
start and end most of my conversations
with a hug now I know that some of you
guys I can tell you’re huggers too and
that’s awesome but I can also tell that
some of you guys are thinking I’m glad
she’s up there and not down here
invading my personal space and that’s
fine but I’m really hoping that at the
end of this short talk you two are gonna
see the benefits of hugging because hugs
really are a four-letter word that could
change our world
now I’m gonna be really honest it feels
weird to start a conversation with you
without giving you a hug
so could everybody do me a favor could
everybody please just stand up real
quick
seriously I’m not gonna run around and
give everybody a hug but if everybody
could take their right hand and put it
on their left shoulder and their left
hand on their right shoulder and squeeze
and you can consider that a big hug for
me to you and now we can officially
begin it’s still good okay so cheesy
right maybe but it could also be the
start to a happier healthier and longer
life for each of us let me explain in
preparation of doing this talk I did a
ton of research because see I knew that
I love hugs and they feel good for
huggers like me but I thought what if
you’re one of the many people that don’t
like physical contact and are shy and
anxious around others do you really need
to hug and even if you do would you
benefit the same way that I do well the
research whether you listen to
naturopaths
or psychologist or biologists or read
any of the amount of studies that are
out there you’re gonna find that the
results are unanimous that hugging is as
vital to our health and our well-being
as proper diet and exercise so guys we
all really need to get comfortable with
it now let me explain to you what
happens
with our body when we hug when we hug
and I mean a genuine firm heart-to-heart
hug not one of those tap on the back
hugs we put pressure on our skin and our
skin is full of pressure receptors or
for you science geeks it’s the pacinian
or lamellar corpuscles but guys all that
is is the nerve endings underneath our
skin that detect vibration and pressure
so when we hug we’re putting pressure on
our skin activating those receptors and
it sends a message to our brain
specifically to the vagus nerve in our
brain and the vagus nerve controls a lot
it controls things like our heart our
lungs our digestive tract it even
regulates our emotions that control
things like depression and anxiety so
when this vagus nerve is activated it
actually releases a bunch of feel-good
hormones into our brain specifically
oxytocin which is considered the love
hormone and this makes sense this is why
when we hug we feel loved and we feel
supported and we create bonds with one
another when we hug but because that
vagus nerve was activated then we also
get a huge amount of health benefits
some of those are lowered blood pressure
lowers levels of cortisol or the stress
hormone
we have lessened anxiety tension even
depression we can have improved ability
to tolerate perceived pain we can
improve our immune system which means
that we can prevent illness and we can
aid in the healing of wounds and even
the common cold and guys this is all
just by hugging now today in the digital
world as wonderful as it is and as
powerful as it is we’re losing that
vital human connectivity and we’re
getting this false sense of security
with our social profiles and the feeling
of belonging and love these are base
like human needs and the less time that
we’re spending with with each other
one-on-one the less were fulfilling this
basic need and it’s leading us to a
society that’s full of anxiety bullying
even illness and we’re seeing it
everywhere so now I know that some of
you guys are thinking okay let me get
this straight
she wants me to interact with strangers
to boost this feel-good hormone yeah
just the thought of it gives me anxiety
so how is that gonna happen and maybe it
won’t for you right away
so I do have a suggestion for you of
something to do until you’re ready so
there’s actually I like to think of hugs
in two different ways there’s the
physical hug and that’s the general
embrace that we all know and love or
some of us love and then there’s mental
hugs and these are in the basic form of
humanity these are just in practicing
kindness whether that’s in volunteering
or helping a stranger or giving
compliments or just making eye contact
and smiling at one another so and you’re
in luck because if we practice these
mental hugs we also increase that
oxytocin in our brain leading us to
benefit from all those health advantages
so back to the anxiety that you might
feel if I’m forcing you to interact with
strangers if you’re going to do that and
you get anxious about it I want you to
think about this there was a study and
it was performed by a behavioral
psychologist at the University of
Harvard University and they called it
the mother Teresa effect basically what
they did is they had groups of students
watch a documentary of mother Teresa
performing random acts of kindness and
helping the poor in India this
documentary was about 45 to 50 minutes
long and what the psychologist did is he
took a cotton swab of each student’s
saliva before and after the documentary
what he wanted to test for was
immunoglobin a which is a one of the key
factors in her immune system when he
found is after watching this documentary
their levels of this antibody actually
increased significantly and this
suggests to us that if anything else we
at least start paying attention and
watching more feel-good videos and
listening to positive stories because
just thinking and watching love and
kindness we too can improve our immune
system so guys I honestly believe that
love is contagious and I challenge each
of us to practice kindness and mental
hugs and physical health physical hugs
every day in the hopes of creating a
community that’s full of love happiness
kindness and health that will then build
to the world around us because hugs
really are a four-letter word that could
change our world are you ready to be a
part of that movement I know I am thank
you
[Applause]
start and end most of my conversations
with a hug now I know that some of you
guys I can tell you’re huggers too and
that’s awesome but I can also tell that
some of you guys are thinking I’m glad
she’s up there and not down here
invading my personal space and that’s
fine but I’m really hoping that at the
end of this short talk you two are gonna
see the benefits of hugging because hugs
really are a four-letter word that could
change our world
now I’m gonna be really honest it feels
weird to start a conversation with you
without giving you a hug
so could everybody do me a favor could
everybody please just stand up real
quick
seriously I’m not gonna run around and
give everybody a hug but if everybody
could take their right hand and put it
on their left shoulder and their left
hand on their right shoulder and squeeze
and you can consider that a big hug for
me to you and now we can officially
begin it’s still good okay so cheesy
right maybe but it could also be the
start to a happier healthier and longer
life for each of us let me explain in
preparation of doing this talk I did a
ton of research because see I knew that
I love hugs and they feel good for
huggers like me but I thought what if
you’re one of the many people that don’t
like physical contact and are shy and
anxious around others do you really need
to hug and even if you do would you
benefit the same way that I do well the
research whether you listen to
naturopaths
or psychologist or biologists or read
any of the amount of studies that are
out there you’re gonna find that the
results are unanimous that hugging is as
vital to our health and our well-being
as proper diet and exercise so guys we
all really need to get comfortable with
it now let me explain to you what
happens
with our body when we hug when we hug
and I mean a genuine firm heart-to-heart
hug not one of those tap on the back
hugs we put pressure on our skin and our
skin is full of pressure receptors or
for you science geeks it’s the pacinian
or lamellar corpuscles but guys all that
is is the nerve endings underneath our
skin that detect vibration and pressure
so when we hug we’re putting pressure on
our skin activating those receptors and
it sends a message to our brain
specifically to the vagus nerve in our
brain and the vagus nerve controls a lot
it controls things like our heart our
lungs our digestive tract it even
regulates our emotions that control
things like depression and anxiety so
when this vagus nerve is activated it
actually releases a bunch of feel-good
hormones into our brain specifically
oxytocin which is considered the love
hormone and this makes sense this is why
when we hug we feel loved and we feel
supported and we create bonds with one
another when we hug but because that
vagus nerve was activated then we also
get a huge amount of health benefits
some of those are lowered blood pressure
lowers levels of cortisol or the stress
hormone
we have lessened anxiety tension even
depression we can have improved ability
to tolerate perceived pain we can
improve our immune system which means
that we can prevent illness and we can
aid in the healing of wounds and even
the common cold and guys this is all
just by hugging now today in the digital
world as wonderful as it is and as
powerful as it is we’re losing that
vital human connectivity and we’re
getting this false sense of security
with our social profiles and the feeling
of belonging and love these are base
like human needs and the less time that
we’re spending with with each other
one-on-one the less were fulfilling this
basic need and it’s leading us to a
society that’s full of anxiety bullying
even illness and we’re seeing it
everywhere so now I know that some of
you guys are thinking okay let me get
this straight
she wants me to interact with strangers
to boost this feel-good hormone yeah
just the thought of it gives me anxiety
so how is that gonna happen and maybe it
won’t for you right away
so I do have a suggestion for you of
something to do until you’re ready so
there’s actually I like to think of hugs
in two different ways there’s the
physical hug and that’s the general
embrace that we all know and love or
some of us love and then there’s mental
hugs and these are in the basic form of
humanity these are just in practicing
kindness whether that’s in volunteering
or helping a stranger or giving
compliments or just making eye contact
and smiling at one another so and you’re
in luck because if we practice these
mental hugs we also increase that
oxytocin in our brain leading us to
benefit from all those health advantages
so back to the anxiety that you might
feel if I’m forcing you to interact with
strangers if you’re going to do that and
you get anxious about it I want you to
think about this there was a study and
it was performed by a behavioral
psychologist at the University of
Harvard University and they called it
the mother Teresa effect basically what
they did is they had groups of students
watch a documentary of mother Teresa
performing random acts of kindness and
helping the poor in India this
documentary was about 45 to 50 minutes
long and what the psychologist did is he
took a cotton swab of each student’s
saliva before and after the documentary
what he wanted to test for was
immunoglobin a which is a one of the key
factors in her immune system when he
found is after watching this documentary
their levels of this antibody actually
increased significantly and this
suggests to us that if anything else we
at least start paying attention and
watching more feel-good videos and
listening to positive stories because
just thinking and watching love and
kindness we too can improve our immune
system so guys I honestly believe that
love is contagious and I challenge each
of us to practice kindness and mental
hugs and physical health physical hugs
every day in the hopes of creating a
community that’s full of love happiness
kindness and health that will then build
to the world around us because hugs
really are a four-letter word that could
change our world are you ready to be a
part of that movement I know I am thank
you
[Applause]
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