Have you hugged today?

Celebrated on January 21, World Hugging Day is an offshoot of National Hugging Day, which has been embraced in countries across the world including Canada, Russia and Germany. It originated in Michigan in 1986 — the brainchild of US Americans Adam Olis and Kevin Zaborney, the latter wanting to encourage people to cuddle because "American society is embarrassed to show feelings in public."

Hugging and expressing feelings in general is said to improve general well-being. World Hugging Day is intended as an incentive to more often show family and friends what they mean to you.

But the US President Donald Trump seems to have misunderstood something here: It's clearly a matter of showing affection to your fellow human beings, not objects. World Hugging Day is about embracing people, not patriotism.

On the occasion of World Hugging Day in 2013, the Center for Brain Research at the Medical University of Vienna confirmed that hugging, cuddling and kissing are healthy habits that can help to reduce stress and anxiety. Cuddling also lowers blood pressure and boosts the immune system.

The hormone oxytocin is responsible for our feelings of happiness when cuddling. This "cuddling hormone" is produced in the pituitary gland and is produced, for example, in mothers during childbirth and breastfeeding. It thus strengthens the bond between mother and child. But men's bodies also produce the hormone.

Though cuddling is a proven means to reduce stress, caution is advised if it's one-sided. When the feeling isn't mutual, the stress hormone cortisol can be released, giving the hugee a feeling of unease. So any hug needs to be well-considered — and, if in doubt, simply ask for permission.

Cuddling is a very emotional affair, also in the animal world. Just like humans, animals express their mutual affection with kisses and cuddles. And here also, intimacy requires trust.

Did then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (left) ask Erich Honecker, Chairman of the State Council of the GDR, for permission for this iconic big kiss on the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall? Were stress hormones flowing in Honecker's body? One will never know. What is certain is that the image of this historic embrace will not be forgotten.

Gorbachev and Honecker were not the first, nor the last, world leaders to enjoy a hug. Nearly 30 years later in 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron (left) and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continued a cuddly traditional of international diplomacy and detente.

Love and affection are important in every culture in the world. No wonder then that these feelings also find expression in art, such as here in Auguste Rodin's famous sculpture "Le baiser" ("The Kiss"). International Kissing Day is also a thing and is celebrated on July 6. It was established in Great Britain in the early 1990s, which makes World Hugging Day a slightly older tradition.