DISCLOSURE: This post is sponsored by Huggies®.

Hugging my children has such a positive impact on my life. It makes me feel better during my worst moments and most challenging days. It comforts me in the morning when I send my kids off to school. It warms my heart in the afternoon when they return home.

These emotional and physiological outcomes are all wonderful, but I’ve never tried to understand the science and culture of why that is so.

Fortunately, I learned someone else has.

The Huggies Parents Council, a diverse group of moms and dads from around the nation who care deeply about their families, recently met in Chicago where the Huggies brand team helped us understand what it means when Huggies says it believes in the power of hugs — especially a parent’s hugs — to help our little ones thrive.

Parenting expert, author and pediatrician Dr. William Sears and behavioral and brain scientist Dr. Olivier Oullier presented us with data that shows the many measurable benefits of hugging for baby and parents alike. These include lowering blood pressure, reducing stress and boosting the immune system just to name a few.

For children, parental hugs assist in their emotional and physiological development. Hugs make them happier and more resilient, less prone to illness, and create stronger family connections and bonds. A recent Huggies study titled “The Power of Human Touch for Babies,” shows skin-to-skin hugs not only calm a cry or soothe away stress, they also:

can help keep a baby’s heart beating at a normal rate

improve sleep

support healthy weight gain

In addition, MRI and PET scans have revealed hugs stimulate the release of dopamine, body’s own feel-good medicine. I witnessed this explosion of the body’s positive information flow firsthand . I participated in a neuroscience experiment using a revolutionary neuroheadset scanner that monitored my brain activity to show the profound difference before and immediately after a hug:

Before a hug

Right after a hug:

To further demonstrate my “brain on hugs,” I’d like to share with you a highlight reel with five of my most memorable hugs as a parent.