Why it’s time to embrace the benefits of the humble hug

Kisses tend to be the preserve of celebrity gossip columns and overfamiliar emails from your boss, so I am delighted to see the humble hug getting a bit of a boost from new research espousing its virtues.

Hugging reduces stress and could therefore lower the risk of associated illnesses, according to psychologists at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University, who have proven that skin-to-skin hugs help premature babies to thrive. For children, it shows your love and affirms their lovability. In adults, it’s the most intimate form of comfort and reassurance.

Yet the average hug only lasts just over two seconds. Here in the UK, Andy Cope, author of Happiness: Your Route Map to Inner Joy, recommends seven seconds in order to feel the love hormones flow.

Me? I’m a high-maintenance hugger, apparently. But that’s just because I like to do things properly, and feeble, slapdash huggery is really quite irritating.

Best practice is to receive said grand gesture spontaneously, like Rhett Butler sweeping Scarlett O’hara up into his arms.

But failing that, a husband’s hug should be terribly manly, two-armed, and take time out of his day. At least 10 seconds.

“Being sweaty” is not a legitimate excuse. Nor is “being busy”. Or “I’m stirring the risotto”. For some reason, I only ever demand hugs in the kitchen when he’s just come in from a bike ride, is on the phone to our broadband provider, or cooking.

For a simple human encounter that is supposed to reduce tension and engender positivity, it can be quite the source of conflict. But once I’ve stopped nagging and he’s plated up supper, it’s surely the perfect preprandial interlude?

Usually, he agrees. When he grumbles about missing the start of University Challenge, I judiciously remind him that a hug is a lot quicker than sex. And that is a concept we can both embrace.