Welcome to The Newsfeed.

Did you know that people are snuggling up to strangers to find connection and combat loneliness?

It's a growing movement.

Many may not know about to focus on the basic need of human touch.

Anna Joy Reedy and Ian Wilson began throwing cuddle parties in 2022 to create a place where people connect through platonic intimacy.

Touch is the thing that we focus on the least in our bodies.

We've got a lot of like stimulus for the mind and the emotions, but I think the body has gotten left out and left behind.

On a recent Friday, about a dozen cuddlers gathered at a yoga studio in northeast Seattle.

It's part social event, part self-care workshop, and it starts with a lesson in consent.

As people settle into cuddle puddles, Reedy and Wilson encourage participants to ask for the kind of touch they want.

Research shows touch can calm the nervous system, ease stress and help us feel more connected to each other.

Once a month, Julz comes to a cuddle party to get their touch needs met.

I came to my first cuddle party because I was incredibly lonely.

I had just been through a breakup and I didn't have any family in the area, and I also was newly disabled with a head injury and I just didn't have any one that I could get healthy, consensual, platonic, safe touch from.

A lot of us, or touch starved or touch deprived.

And so coming to an event like this is a way to actually get those needs met.

Tomorrow we will tell you about a place where people can connect with local clubs.

As we continue our loneliness coverage, I'm Paris Jackson.

Thank you for watching The Newsfeed.