While stuffed animals have traditionally been associated only with children, today, many people recognize that you can enjoy these toys at any age.
Discover three benefits of stuffed animals for adults.
Provide comfort
One of the top benefits of stuffed animals in child development also extends to adults. Stuffed animals, with their soft bodies and charming expressions, provide comfort.
Whether you’ve simply had a hard day or you’re healing from trauma, a stuffed animal can help you feel better. The stable presence of a stuffed animal can ease loneliness and anxiety.
Holding and squeezing a stuffed animal can reduce stress. Like other simple enjoyments in life, a stuffed animal can help stop life’s problems, challenges, and obstacles from looming too large.
Improve sleep
If you need to improve the quality of your sleep, consider keeping a stuffed animal with you. Your positive associations with the stuffed animal can help to calm and relax you before you fall asleep. And they’re comfortable to hold onto too.
Stuffed animals can also improve your sleep by making your bedroom more welcoming and tranquil. If you enjoy stuffed animals, one of the easiest ways to improve your room is to keep one on or near your bed.
Invoke nostalgia
Another way that stuffed animals benefit adults is that they can invoke positive nostalgia. Nostalgia is a sentimentality for a time or place in the past. Sometimes, nostalgia can make you feel sad, but having a stuffed animal associated with a time or place you’re fond of can help you carry positive memories with you.
Nostalgic stuffed animals can be the very toys that you had as a child, or they can be the same version of a toy that you once had. Stuffed animals that were designed or popular in another time, such as ’90s stuffed teddy bears, can give you a piece of the past to cherish.
