Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Lose yourself in a warm embrace and, just for a moment, all your worries seem miles away. Hugs — a universal gesture of caring, ...

See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Can you measure the quality of a friendship by the number of hugs?

A heartfelt hug can make us feel better in the worst of situations that can happen in life, but psychological research on hugging on mood is still rather rare. A new scientific study, now published in ...