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Why can squeezing toys relieve stress?

"Squeezing" refers to grasping an elastic object, with a part of the object being clamped between two fingers, while people can also apply force to squeeze it. People usually use their thumbs and another finger to squeeze things. The closer the other finger is to the thumb, the stronger the squeezing force.

🌟 Tactile Stimulation 🤏

Squeezing toys mainly rely on tactile stimulation 🎩 to relieve stress. Touch is one of our most direct senses, and it plays an important role in emotional regulation. When you squeeze a toy, the tactile nerves in your hand are stimulated, and the signals are transmitted to the brain, especially to the brain regions related to emotions and pain, such as the cerebral cortex. This kind of stimulation helps to divert attention from anxiety and relieve negative emotions.
   

🌟 Repetitive Actions and Emotional Regulation

Squeezing is a repetitive and controllable behavior. When you continuously squeeze a toy with your fingers, this repetitive action can help consume excess nervous energy. It helps to shift thoughts away from stressors and gradually produce a relaxing effect. Squeezing provides an effective "behavioral catharsis" method, helping people release the accumulated emotional energy in their bodies, especially in high-stress situations. This behavior is actually similar to some habitual stress responses, such as biting nails and rubbing fingers, but it is more controllable and conscious.
   

🌟 Increasing a Sense of Control

Squeezing toys can give people a sense of control. When facing stress, people often feel that they cannot control the surrounding environment or emotions. Squeezing toys give people a feeling of "controlling" emotions and stress. Each time you squeeze a toy and see it return to its original state, you are actually reinforcing the feeling of "control", making people feel more powerful when facing stress.