The Braves and their Hugging - it's good for them!

There are many reasons why I love the Braves, but one reason that has developed since I first became a fan is because the players are so openly affectionate to each other.

 

See what I mean?  It apparently all started a few years ago when Freddie Freeman and Dan Uggla began using a hug instead of a handshake, and it just grew from there.  This aspect of the Braves became nationally known last June when the Braves started a "Hugs for Votes" campaign to get Freddie the Final Vote for the All Star Game (which worked, in case you don't remember).  And there are some of us fans that refer to Dan as "Huggla".  ;) 

While I've always thought it was really sweet, I recently learned thanks to an article/video clip about stress that my mom emailed to me that this cute habit of the Braves' could really be beneficial for them.  Here's an excerpt from the video's transcript:

...I want to tell you about one of the most under-appreciated aspects of the stress response, and the idea is this: Stress makes you social.

To understand this side of stress, we need to talk about a hormone, oxytocin, and I know oxytocin has already gotten as much hype as a hormone can get. It even has its own cute nickname, the cuddle hormone, because it's released when you hug someone. But this is a very small part of what oxytocin is involved in. Oxytocin is a neuro-hormone. It fine-tunes your brain's social instincts. It primes you to do things that strengthen close relationships. Oxytocin makes you crave physical contact with your friends and family. It enhances your empathy. It even makes you more willing to help and support the people you care about. Some people have even suggested we should snort oxytocin to become more compassionate and caring. But here's what most people don't understand about oxytocin. It's a stress hormone. Your pituitary gland pumps this stuff out as part of the stress response. It's as much a part of your stress response as the adrenaline that makes your heart pound. And when oxytocin is released in the stress response, it is motivating you to seek support. Your biological stress response is nudging you to tell someone how you feel instead of bottling it up. Your stress response wants to make sure you notice when someone else in your life is struggling so that you can support each other. When life is difficult, your stress response wants you to be surrounded by people who care about you.

Okay, so how is knowing this side of stress going to make you healthier? Well, oxytocin doesn't only act on your brain. It also acts on your body, and one of its main roles in your body is to protect your cardiovascular system from the effects of stress. It's a natural anti-inflammatory. It also helps your blood vessels stay relaxed during stress. But my favorite effect on the body is actually on the heart. Your heart has receptors for this hormone, and oxytocin helps heart cells regenerate and heal from any stress-induced damage. This stress hormone strengthens your heart, and the cool thing is that all of these physical benefits of oxytocin are enhanced by social contact and social support, so when you reach out to others under stress, either to seek support or to help someone else, you release more of this hormone, your stress response becomes healthier, and you actually recover faster from stress. I find this amazing, that your stress response has a built-in mechanism for stress resilience, and that mechanism is human connection...

See?  All the Braves' hugging helps them with handling stress!  And seeing how stressful the season can be for us fans, it has to be much more so for the players.  So, from Braves fans everywhere, keep it up, guys!  It's for your health.  :)