21 January 2017, a day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th US President and the world could do with a group hug, I celebrated the National Hugging Day by hugging my nearly five-year-old daughter and her electronic furry pet Rara.
While I'm no cuddling machine, I do try and hold my hugs a little longer around loved ones these days - but with reason. Apparently, if you can extend a hug to last at least seven seconds or longer, your brain takes cue and releases the happiness hormone 'oxytocin'. Yippy!
Are we a generation of huggers? Obviously not with most of us plugged into Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat sharing virtual hugs with glossy filters.
According to a recent research commissioned by British animated television series, Hey Duggee, Brits are found to be in dire need of hugs. The findings revealed that Brits want nearly six hugs a day on average but they get only two, and there's a cloud of hug drought looming over nearly 33 per cent (17.2m) Brits who get absolutely no cuddles.
As hugging expert, Andy Cope, said it: "Hugging is a drug, a legal and totally free way of getting high."
A simple cuddle stimulates not just the production of oxytocin, a neurotransmitter that acts on the brain's emotional centre, but some research has also shown that it triggers the release of immunoregulatory hormones that can have a deep impact on the health of our immune systems.
Most importantly, it has been revealed that if you're hugged and loved at an early age, chances are higher that you'll grow older into a well-balanced and loving adult.
Here's how the science behind hugging works: we are born with unfinished brains that are 'live-wired' through the years, which means our early experiences alter the pathways inside our brains. Children who are subjected to neglect or abuse in key developmental phases have some cells in their brains switched on and off as a result of the abuse, which offer explanation into why childhood neglect or abuse increases the likelihood of depression in adult life by nearly 50 per cent.
This why two children brought up in the same family might have a different combination of genetic switches and be completely different adults.
So while we might be helpless against Trump's incessant tweets, there is a cure to save the world plunging into depression.
Perhaps we need to forbid the exchange of meaningless virtual likes.
Perhaps we need to revise the meaning of like and love.
Perhaps we need a march to bring back reality.
Perhaps we need a march to bring back real love.
Climate change apart, if you want to do something meaningful to save the future generations from becoming zombies marching to the rhythm of Snapchat bunnies on Facebook live, put your smartphone down, take a step back into reality and instead of mastering the perfect selfie, master the perfect hug by holding your little ones tight.