#358 Give out free hugs at the hospital

I had a theory that hugs were good for pain relief, and I wanted to spread some smiles to people visiting the very large and very sad Ullevål hospital in Oslo. So I took my best "feel good" clothes and my stuffed penguin Pongo, put signs around our necks that said "Free Hugs" (Pongo's actually read "I'm cold" it was -20 degrees celsius that day and even penguins have their limits) and made my way to the hospital.

There we were welcomed with open arms by the chief of security, and told to leave immediately (because we had a camera, I'm sure if you want to hand out hugs without filming this would be ok).

So we took our project to the nearby University campus and tested our theory there. For 20 minutes I hugged randomly passing people who wanted a hug, and what do you know, quite a few people started smiling and laughing, many got a hug and went on with their day, and for each hug I gave I felt a LOT better afterwards! At the end of the experiment, my back pain was down from 7 to 2 on the VAS scale. Maybe it was the endorphins, I don't know. But it worked and it was free:)

So with that I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Midwinter, may you give and get many pain-relieving hugs in the Holidays this year!