Hugs, kisses and massages are good for your health, says research - and the more you do them, the better

Hugs, kisses and massages improve your health, according to a new study.

Researchers have found consensual positive touch reduces pain, tiredness and blood pressure and can help sleep and respiratory problems.

Touch also counters depression and anxiety.

"Massage was not that special after all," says Julian Packheiser, one of the researchers from Ruhr University Bochum in Germany, to Sky News.

"You can substitute a massage with a good hug or cuddle.

"All these other types of touch were just as good in improving your well-being."

What matters more is the quantity of touch - the more hugs, the better.

"The frequency of how often you engage in touch was related to how much your well-being improved," says Mr Packheiser.

"Engaging more often in everyday touch interactions, always under the proposition that they need to be consensual, can improve your well-being."

In newborns, touch helps regulate cortisol levels and temperature and can also influence increases in the baby's weight.

Some of the benefits even appear when the touch isn't from a human, which Mr Packheiser says was "particularly surprising".

"Touch that was delivered by robots, or by objects like a body pillow or using a weighted blanket, actually did surprisingly well."

In fact, the benefit from these kinds of objects was on par with touch from a human when it came to physical health, which is good news for 'warm tech' inventors.

There is a whole industry of people making robots that can hug and hold you. A team in Cardiff has even created a huggable scarf complete with heartbeat.

When it came to newborns, it did matter who touched them - parental touch had a more positive impact than touch from a health worker.

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However, in adults, it didn't matter who was doing the touching; a health professional had just as much impact as a friend or partner.

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So giving more hugs is "something that we can, in good conscience, suggest to everyone in everyday life," says Packheiser.