Everyone needs a hug!! Getting a hug can make you feel great. Hugs are a totally free way to make you really feel great, promote goodwill, and enhance communication. When you hug someone, you make a personal connection and you connect as only two human beings are capable of doing. Hugs make folks happy and the common consensus is that people need at the bare minimum 4 hugs a day to stay positive and focused.

The original free hugs campaign was begun in 2004 by Juan Mann, an Australian man whose sole purpose was to spread random acts of kindness and goodwill through hugs in Sydney. In 2006, a music video of Mr. Mann hugging strangers on the street surfaced on YouTube, creating an international phenomenon. He famously carries a sign that reads, “FREE HUGS“. Mr. Mann retired from free hugs in 2009 after an appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. But his message of happiness and love lives on. Free Hugs Day is now celebrated through the globe on the first Saturday of July.

“Hugs can do a heart good” reads the headline in the USA Today. “How hugs can aid women’s hearts” touts the BBC News. “A hug a day could save your life,” says Dr. Manny Alvarez of Fox News. Numerous studies have shown that providing and receiving hugs can measurably boost a person’s general health and well-being.

Scientists from the   North Carolina found that hugs brought on the release of elevated levels of oxytocin which lowers blood pressure and shrinks the risk of heart disease. Psychologist Karen Grewen, of the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, discovered that short hugs can substantially reduce the harmful, physical effects of stress. Hugs have also been proven to boost overall moods, lessen stress, increase blood circulation, reduce heart rates and increase nerve activity.

Once you give a hug, you could be the start of a hug that travels around the earth. Your basic act of hugging another person can help create kindness and consideration among numerous other individuals. Look at this: If you hug 10 individuals today, and they each hug 10 people tomorrow, and they each hug 10 people the next, and so on… In 10 days 10 BILLION hugs should be shared – it’s as simple as that! 10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10= 10,000,000,000 (or 10 billion hugs shared!!!)

Now with the non-profit Hug It Forward you can Track Your Hugs on a Google Map! Pay a visit to the Hug It Forward web site to sign-up and take part. What’s more, for each hug you share, 25 cents will be donated to Bottle School projects in Guatemala.

So, what are you waiting for? Stop reading this, and start hugging!!!