In short supply
Hugs have been in short supply lately. According to one study released this July, 37% of UK adults had not been hugged in 6 months. 25% had gone a whole year without one. A year without bear hugs, group hugs, hugs that require a runup across an airport arrivals lounge, those half-arsed hugs that only use one arm and half a shoulder.
Brits don’t have many ways to publicly display non-romantic affection. Not for us the art of ‘la bise’, or French cheek kissing. The Inuit ‘kunik’ has never quite caught on. And the full-lipped, head-tilting embrace of the ‘fraternal kiss’ made famous by Leonid Brezhnev, as he planted a smacker on the grille of Erich Honecker, is not part of our emotional toolbox. For the more tactile among us, the last 18 months have meant rationing contact, bargaining with guidelines to find some compromise that can approximate closeness.
And in the process of acclamating to a new way of being in the world, many of us have got used to a lack of human contact altogether. We’ve learned to do without. But a social contract that hasn’t room for contact, however pragmatic, might further erode the bonds that bring us all together.
A 2017 study from University College London found that even the most occasional moment of touch from a stranger can reduce feelings of social exclusion. That’s because your skin contains millions of neurones, some of which are primed to respond to affectionate touch by releasing oxytocin and dopamine, triggered by anything from a subtle caress to a much-needed squeeze. They link your sense of touch with your emotional senses. As we reclaim the parts of our lives the pandemic put on hold – dating, dancing, darting off on holiday – it’s worth taking a moment to reacquaint ourselves with a hug.
