• Your Wellness Guide
  • Posts
  • The Science of Hugs: Why Your Body and Brain Need Daily Human Contact đź’›

The Science of Hugs: Why Your Body and Brain Need Daily Human Contact đź’›

From oxytocin to lower stress and stronger immunity, here’s why hugs are more powerful than you think.

February 13, 2026

A Message from Kathleen:

Dear Friends,

In these turbulent times, I surely need more hugs. I suspect you do, too. Our main article this week has more on the “science” of hugs.

Give a hug and you’ll get one back.

Kathleen

Main Article

Research shows that one-third of us get no hugs at all and 75% say they want more hugs. Find out the Science behind it. You need a hug today.

For Your Library

Wellness News This Week

Natural virus fighters hiding in your kitchen

When you catch a virus, Western medicine offers the same playbook: wait until you’re sick, then take antivirals that work through a single mechanism and hope the drug will clear up the infection. A review published in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research recently revealed a completely different approach that has been available all along.

If You Sleep In This 1 Position, Doctors Say You Need To Stop Immediately

It’s the same every morning. That tingling creeps into your fingers. And your shoulders? Stiff as always. You stretch out your arms and roll your shoulders until the feeling comes back. You get up, shake it off. Probably nothing, you tell yourself. Just slept weird, right? Maybe not. The way you sleep might be the real problem.

Wireless Radiation: How US Policy Fails to Protect the Public’s Health

A newly published paper on US law and policy governing wireless technology reads like a case study in regulatory failure. For longtime ANH-USA readers, much of this story will sound familiar—we’ve been sounding the alarm on wireless radiation for years. But with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now leading the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), there is a rare opportunity to bring these long-ignored issues back into the spotlight and demand change.

James Van Der Beek Said He Overlooked an Early Colorectal Cancer Symptom. Here Are 6 Subtle Signs

This week, Dawson’s Creek actor James Van Der Beek died at age 48 after a battle with stage 3 colorectal cancer, which he opened up about in November 2024. At the time of his diagnosis, he was dealing with a change in bowel habits and thought he just needed to “change [his] diet a bit” or “stop coffee,” he told People. But those digestive shifts proved to be the subtle symptoms of what a colonoscopy would reveal was cancer.