Feeling lonely during social isolation? Hug a tree

If you're missing human hugs under lockdown, consider the advice of Iceland's forest custodians, who recommend people spend at least five minutes a day hugging a tree to combat the stress and loneliness of social isolation.

On its website, the Icelandic Forest Service says while close contact with other humans is ill advised for the time being, people will find great comfort in wrapping their arms around a tree.

The site shows pictures of people demonstrating and gives detailed instructions. "Be careful not to just hug for a moment. Take hold of the tree and wait until you begin to feel the energy flowing into you from the tree."

In an interview with broadcaster RUV, the forest manager for East Iceland, Thor Thorfinnsson, elaborated on the benefits. "It starts in your toes, goes up into your legs, then into your body and finally into your brain. You get a good relaxing feeling and are ready for a new day and new challenges."

Scientists over the years have shown that proximity to trees can have many benefits, including lowering blood pressure, boosting concentration, and alleviating depression, stress and headaches. One explanation is that phytoncides, the airborne chemicals that plants emit to protect them from rotting and insects, are to thank as they increase the number and activity of a white blood cell called natural killer cells.

Japan has long acknowledged the medicinal value of simply spending time around trees. It calls the practice shinrin-yoku, or "forest bathing", a term coined in the '80s as part of a public health programme.

While, strictly speaking, the term refers to walking through nature and deploying all the senses to experience it, author Qing Li, in Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness, explains: "You can forest-bathe wherever there are trees . you don't even need a forest."

If you have access to even one tree right now, here are Li's instructions: "Taste the freshness of the air as you take deep breaths. Place your hands on the trunk . Lie on the ground. Drink in the flavour of the forest and release your sense of joy and calm. This is your sixth sense, a state of mind. Now you have connected with nature. You have crossed the bridge to happiness."