You felt it the first time you were held in your mother’s arms, but as soon as she put you down in the crib, a cold shiver crept through your little body and you cried for her to pick you up again.

And, guess what. According to mental health scientists, you’re still crying for your mother to hold you and keep you safe from that monster who’s hiding under your bed.

As we grew older and into our teenage years, we might have lost that loving feeling that had come from inside our parents’ embracing arms, even though we still had frightening moments of that monster lurking somewhere out there. It wasn’t cool anymore to run into our mother’s or father’s arms. We were left alone to self-soothe, but somehow from our intuitive memory, we wanted to recapture what it felt like when we were growing inside the womb wrapped in a blanket of sensory perfection that caused us to never, ever want to leave.

When I became a teenage boy, the acceptable manner of expressing friendship with another boy was a slap five or a handshake. I had lacked the privilege of getting hugs in a house of family dysfunction, and now, I have to say, there were several times when as a teen, I needed a warm embrace that would have delivered a needed unspoken message, “You will be OK. Don’t worry about it.”

We teenaged boys silently suffered through our fears and our anger and then we watched the girls giving each other the reassuring hugs that we needed, too.

As a full-grown man, embracing another nonfamily man even for a second or two is often an awkward and uncomfortable experience. Usually, the handshake is customary, but in these COVID-19 times, the “safe” gesture is an impersonal fist bump or a silly elbow touch. Neither has much benefit to either man.

On the website, “her,” the anatomy of a man hug is broken down into do’s and don’ts with a slice of humor. Don’t even think of touching his hair. Smile, but not too intensely. Do not close your eyes. In fact, wink at someone in front of you to reduce the awkwardness. Hands must remain widely spread apart. Make sure to leave room between bodies. Keep legs straight and mind your posture.

Human touch is not just a socially redeeming experience, it also has health benefits. Pediatric doctor William Sears, based upon his scientific research, says, “Hugging for 20 seconds puts your body and brain in balance. It calms anxiety, lifts depression, balances your immune system, and lowers high blood pressure.” He adds, “Touch is the most primitive of all senses, the first one to develop, and our need for it does not go away as we age.”

The website Healthline reports that in a study of more than 400 adults, researchers found that hugging may reduce the chance a person will get sick. The participants with a greater support system (from hugs) were less likely to get sick. And those with the greater support system who did get sick had less severe symptoms than those with little or no support system.

People in romantic relationships have an advantage, too. In a study by Healthline of 200 participants, 100 romantic partners were asked to hold hands for 10 minutes followed by a 20-second hug with each other while the other 100 were told to sit in silence for 10 minutes and 20 seconds. Neither group was informed of the intent of the experiment.

The first group showed greater reductions in blood pressure levels and the results suggested that an affectionate relationship may also be good for your heart health.

Speaking of romance, what can be better than watching a movie while cuddling together on the couch? Cuddling may lead to other positive behaviors. American voice actor Dave Willis says, “Fight less, cuddle more. Demand less, serve more. Text less, talk more. Criticize less, compliment more. Stress less, laugh more. Worry less, pray more. With each new day, find new ways to love each other even more.”

Cuddling is a great mood enhancer with children, but the effect is also reciprocal. British investment fund manager Nicola Horlick writes, “When I pick up one of my children and cuddle them, all the strain and stress of life temporarily disappears. There is nothing more wonderful than motherhood and no one will ever love you as much as a small child.”

Actor Russell Crowe adds his thought about the extraordinary vibe he gets from his child.

“My days, if they start in the morning with a cuddle from my son, are just so much more glorious than they were prior to that.”

I would think that the hard-core criminals were not cuddled as children and had lost all forms of reassuring physical contact long before they had committed their heinous acts. Maybe if Hitler was hugged more by his grandmother, the world might have been spared his atrocities. Dan Pearce, author of “Single Dad Laughing,” wrote, “Some moments can only be cured with a big squishy grandma hug.”

Handshakes, hugs and cuddling have more long-lasting effects than one might believe. We long for human intimacy, even if we’re not consciously aware of it. Once this pandemic has passed, to borrow an old commercial phrase, perhaps the healing of America should begin if we all “reach out and touch someone.”

Rich Strack can be reached at richiesadie11@gmail.com.