Platonic cuddling involves non-romantic physical closeness, focusing on comfort and connection through positions like sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, back-to-back, or head-on-lap, using blankets for warmth, watching movies, and always ensuring clear communication and consent to respect boundaries. Key aspects are mutual comfort, maintaining personal space where needed, and avoiding intimate zones like lips, breasts, or genitals to keep the interaction friendly.
Cuddling can be part of a platonic relationship if both friends are comfortable with it and it doesn't lead to romantic or sexual feelings. To manage cuddling in a platonic friendship, it's important to communicate openly about your comfort levels and boundaries regarding physical affection.
Platonic physical affection, commonly known as hugs and reassuring touches, is essential to our healthy development and well-being. Unfortunately, this type of affection is often stigmatized and sexualized, making it difficult for us to express and receive it when we most need it.
“Cuddling boosts oxytocin, a hormone that can lower stress, improve your mood, and even help you sleep,” she says. “This means you might start associating hugging a friend with feeling happy and relaxed and as such, you may see that person in a more positive light.
There is nothing more intimate than a half-spoon cuddle. It involves one partner lying on their back and the other on their side. As you lay on your side, keep your arm over your partner's chest and your head cradled by the nook in their arm. Alternatively, both partners can lay on their backs.
Yes, cuddling can be completely platonic when there is no romantic or sexual intention involved. Platonic cuddling focuses on comfort, emotional safety, and human connection, and it works best when both people clearly understand and respect each other's boundaries.
But it does provide some rough guidelines as to how soon may be too soon to make long-term commitments and how long may be too long to stick with a relationship. Each of the three numbers—three, six, and nine—stands for the month that a different common stage of a relationship tends to end.
The "4-8-12 hug rule," popularized by family therapist Virginia Satir, suggests humans need 4 hugs a day for survival, 8 for maintenance, and 12 for growth, emphasizing physical touch's importance for emotional and physiological well-being, though the numbers aren't strict science but a guideline for connection, with longer, meaningful hugs (around 20 seconds) being particularly beneficial for stress reduction.
The "7-year friend rule" suggests that friendships lasting over seven years are highly likely to become lifelong bonds, as they've survived significant life changes and built deep trust, but research also shows most people lose about half their friends every seven years due to evolving life circumstances (jobs, moves, different interests). This rule highlights how friendships naturally shift, with those that endure the initial "weeding out" phase often becoming deeply resilient and family-like, while others fade as contexts change, creating space for new connections.
You're not physically attracted to them and you don't have romantic feelings for them, but the two of you just click. You love them, but you'll never be in love with them. In that case, the person may be your platonic soulmate.
The four common types of friendships, often seen as levels, range from Acquaintances (surface-level connections) to Casual Friends (more regular interaction), then to Close Friends (deeper emotional support, trust, and vulnerability), and finally, Intimate/Lifelong Friends (family-like bonds, deep acceptance, and enduring commitment). Each type serves a different purpose, from social engagement to profound emotional support, with friendships evolving as life changes.
Emotional attunement is everything in a relationship. But a lack of intimacy makes it hard to feel connected. You might feel like you're walking on eggshells when you're together. Or you might find that you start prioritizing other relationships, activities, or personal interests instead of your marriage.
The 7-7-7 rule for couples is a guideline for maintaining strong connection by scheduling dedicated time: a date night every 7 days, a weekend getaway (or night away) every 7 weeks, and a longer, kid-free vacation every 7 months, all designed to fight drift and routine by ensuring consistent, intentional quality time, though flexibility is key.
Described by Relationships Australia NSW CEO, Elisabeth Shaw as “an act of intimacy that is not romantic or sexual in nature,” platonic kissing “even on the cheek - is most often reserved for extended family or closer friends, rather than something we would bestow on anyone.”
When a hug lasts at least 20 seconds, it's long enough to stimulate the release of oxytocin, often called the “cuddle hormone.” Oxytocin is released in response to soothing touch and promotes feelings of connection, trust, and emotional safety.
The 20-second hug rule suggests that holding someone in a hug for about 20 seconds triggers significant therapeutic benefits, primarily the release of oxytocin, the "love hormone," which reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, fosters bonding, and promotes feelings of safety and well-being, unlike shorter, fleeting hugs. This extended touch allows the nervous system to fully respond, activating pressure receptors that calm the brain, making it a simple yet powerful tool for emotional regulation and connection.
The longest marathon hug lasted 32 hours, 32 minutes, and 32 seconds.
As author and family therapist Virginia Satir once said, “We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth”.
Relationships ebb and flow. Plus, if you and your S.O. survived the dreaded two-year mark (i.e. the most common time period when couples break up), then you're destined to be together forever…
Take them in the spirit in which they are offered—as a a lens to think about your own relationship. This blog is part of a series on the five Cs: Chemistry, Commonality, Constructive Conflict, Courtesy and Commitment.
The 3-squeeze rule involves kissing your partner post-squeeze. The 3-squeeze rule is a trend that's currently going viral on TikTok. It's defined by kissing your partner after they've squeezed your hand 3 times.
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The key here is to suck hard enough to break the capillaries just beneath the skin, but not so hard that you cause your partner too much pain. You will need to suck for 20 to 30 seconds in order to make a mark. Remember: Keep your teeth out of the way.
Most guys enjoy kissing on the mouth. Once you're comfortable with light kisses on the lips, try moving on to deeper and more intimate kisses, like the French kiss. If you're both bored with kissing on the lips, try kissing him in other places, like on his forehead, cheek, or shoulder.