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Cuddling leads to better sex life: A study
– Reported, October 27, 2012
Researchers from the University of Michigan asked 514 men and women in relationships about how often and the length of their cuddles and how cuddling made them feel. The participants were also asked about what they did when they cuddled and where they cuddled and when.
Researchers defined cuddle as “intimate, physical and loving contact that does not involve sexual behavior and that involves some degree of whole body touching, not just hand to hand or lips to lips”. The findings revealed that the average cuddle lasts about 47 minutes and 36 seconds, with evenings being the most popular time for a cuddle session.
Researcher also found that couples were most likely to cuddle while watching a film or TV, followed by talking, having a massage, listening to music or reading. However, only one in six reported that sex was likely to follow.
Participants who reported talking while cuddling were most likely to discuss with their partners what they had each done that day.
Men and women reported feeling nurtured, protective and relaxed after cuddling and rarely mentioned sex when questioned about what they did or felt during cuddling, but talked about love, intimacy, closeness and comfort.
“Data supported our expectations that cuddling would be perceived as nurturant and non-sexual. Participants reported feeling nurtured, protective, and relaxed after cuddling. They rarely invoked sexual themes in responses to questions about what they did or felt during cuddling, and instead reported themes like love, intimacy, closeness, and comfort,” lead researcher Dr. Sari van Anders and colleagues wrote in the study.
However, researchers noted that the intimacy that comes with holding your partner close does have some benefits between the sheets, as researchers found that participants who cuddled the most tended to report having better sex lives.
The study, published in the October in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, found that the typical couple cuddles at least eight times a week, with each session lasting a little more than 45 minutes. Researchers found that the most popular cuddling locations were the sofa, armchair and bed, and that women tended to enjoy cuddling more than men.
Disappointing news for those hoping that a quick cuddle will lead to sex: only one in six cuddles between couples lead to sex, according to the first in-depth study into hugging habits.
Researchers said that cuddle sessions are more likely to be used to discuss previous events in the day rather than as a buildup to activity in the bedroom
Japan opens its first cuddle cafe
Who wants a cuddle? How about a slap in the face?
If you answered yes and you’re in Tokyo, you’re in luck, because a new shop called Soineya is offering both cuddles and slaps for a price.
According to ABC News, the new specialty shop charges 9,000 yen to snuggle with a girl for one hour in a bed-sized cubical. The shop’s proprietor says there is no sex it’s simply an opportunity to cuddle with one of the shop’s young women. According to the manager, they are all between 17 and 25, though the reporter who visited described one of the cuddlers as appearing “no more than 15.”
And while there’s no sex on offer, for a little extra there is a menu of additional services to enhance the cuddling experience. For about $13, the cuddler will put on a costume there are school uniforms, and a Sailor Moon outfit. If a client wants a particular girl, that’s also extra.
Some of the other extras are more surprising.
The man can sleep with his head in the girl’s lap apparently a very popular add-on but at the steep price of $13 for every three minutes. Getting or giving massage is also extra, as is petting the head or holding hands.
One rather intense option is to start the cuddle session by staring into one another’s eyes for a full minute, and at a cost of $13.
And remember that slap? Yup, getting slapped in the face is something that people will apparently pay money for, with each slap priced at $13. (If that sounds expensive, it’s a steal compared to the face-slapping services of “Tata”, a Thai-American woman who will slap your wrinkles away for the tidy sum of $350).
If this all seems a little odd and like something that could only have been dreamt up by the people that came up with square watermelons and panty vending machines, you’re wrong, because apparently the manager got the idea after reading about The Snuggery — a snuggle service based right here in North America.
New Yorker Jackie Samuel operates The Snuggery out of her Penfield home, and charges $60 an hour for a snuggle session. She says there is never any nudity or sexual activity, and that the goals are comfort and relaxation. Since opening earlier this year, Samuel has hired a second snuggler, “Colleen”, and now offers “The Double Cuddle”, which is pretty self-explanatory.
“What I find fascinating is that this is something that wasn’t commodified earlier,” says Brenda Cossman, director of the Bonham Centre for sexual diversity studies at the University of Toronto.
She points out that we’re perfectly fine with paying to get therapy, or a massage, or a treatment at a spa all very intimate and personal experiences.
“You can get your body rubbed, wrapped, scrubbed and plucked, so why not sleeping?” says Cossman. “We think that who you sleep with is not something you should commodify, because it’s getting too close to sex.”
She says it makes sense that people would pay for this service everyone has different needs.
“People have different ways that they like to sleep and different needs for emotional contact,” says Cossman. “Here it involves separating touch from sex.”
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