When was the last time you and your significant other held each other tenderly in a loving embrace?

When was the last time you laughed together, or, perhaps a better question, how much do you laugh?

Hugging and laughing are simple ways to nurture emotional intimacy. If you’re not hugging and laughing, you’re not close emotionally.

Hugging and laughing work wonders for your relationship because they relieve stress, make you feel better, and draw you close.

Why Hugs Make Us Feel Better

Have you ever noticed how a tender, loving hug from your partner makes you feel better and sets you aglow?

In a healthy relationship, a hug makes you feel appreciated, accepted, and desired.

How do you feel when your partner doesn’t engage you with loving touch? No so good. Sort of makes you wonder if there’s something wrong with you or the relationship. Doubt creeps in. And the relationship starts getting colder.

Hugs have a way of calming you. They can shift your whole outlook and make everything feel all right.

It turns out there’s some science behind hugs and why they make us feel better.

Researchers have measured the calm-inducing, stress-reducing effects of hugs on the heart and brain; these effects kick-in around the twenty-second mark.

But that’s not all. Hugs and touch also trigger the release of oxytocin, known as the feel-good hormone.

Hugs have the power to shift your whole outlook and mood.

Start to hug your significant other more often. Make the hug count by making it last. Don’t give them one of those quick “drive-by” hugs or a side-hug as you race out the door.

Hug them and savor the moment; make it last by holding the hug for at least twenty seconds.

Spouses whose partners don’t touch or hug them feel less desired, cherished, and wanted.

Here’s a challenge for your consideration: Give your significant other a warm twenty-second hug sometime in the next day or two. Choose a good time – a time when they’re not rushed or distracted. Be confident and act as if you enjoy it. And For bonus points, tell them you love and appreciate them.

Begin transforming the emotional environment of your relationship with loving hugs.

LAUGHTER

Add laughter to your relationship too. Don’t be so serious all the time. Lighten up. Laugh! A smile is the best makeup in the world!

Laughing relieves tension and reduces stress – which is something MOST marriages and romantic relationships could benefit from, don’t you think?

Laugh with your partner. Be silly. Tell a joke. Be playful. Create a light-hearted relationship that’s fun to be in!

Plus, laughing fills your lungs with air, pumping more oxygen to your heart, brain, and other vital organs.

Laughing is also associated with an improved immune system.

Please, for the love and health of your relationship, watch a funny movie or TV show, share a few silly jokes, go out with friends who are fun and playful and make you laugh.

Laughter makes a relationship happier, lighter, joyful, and cheerful.

Joyfulness and laughter are medicine for the soul! They keep your heart and soul young!

Without laughter, your relationship becomes cold, harsh, and uninviting.

Laughter is so important that many health care providers are adding “laughter therapy” to the healing process.

Believe it or not, there’s even an entire sub-niche of yoga practitioners who do laughter yoga as a stress-busting technique.

Yes, although abuse and clinical issues affect relationships negatively, the relationship you have now is the one you created by your thoughts, feelings, and choices.

So, if you want a happier, healthier, warmer, more welcoming, inviting, and more sensual relationship with your significant other, start hugging and laughing more often. Don’t accept any excuses! Just go do it right now!