Anxiety - the distress evoked by life's pressures - is perhaps the emotion with the greatest weight of scientific evidence connecting it to the onset of sickness and course of recovery. When anxiety helps us to prepare to deal with danger, it serves us well, but in modern life, anxiety is more often out of proportion and out of place. Repeated times of anxiety signal high levels of stress.

It is clear that safe, caring physical touch is as important to our health as food, air or water. It's been amply demonstrated that newborns deprived of nurturing touch can actually die, even if their other physical needs are met. Sadly, in our culture physical touch, particularly in the form of hugs, is often seen as unsafe.