The importance of Touch in the times of COVID-19
What happens when we touch other people? And why is that special?
Human touch is a critical topic in our society at the moment and now with the Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing, it has taken to a new level of importance.
We underestimate how important touch actually is. It’s our social glue. But most importantly, human touch is key to our survival. It’s rooted in our DNA. Studies have shown that touch boosts immune system, improves well-being and can act as a painkiller. It lowers blood pressure as well as stress hormones.
Touch is the first sense we learn as a baby. That’s how we first communicate and it’s vital for a healthy development. Touch can stabilize the heart rate and can relax the nervous system. Touch is really forming the first part of social bonding.
So if you really want to know how someone feels about you, don’t listen to what they tell you, just feel how they touch you.
Gentle affective touch with presence
Touching other people is processed by the brain with different mechanisms.
The discoveries in the 1990’s, show that humans posses a specialized set of cells in the skin which then travel with specialized pathways to particular parts of the brain and this system is called C-Tactile System.
Gentle caressing and touching triggers the endorphin system in the brain.
That’s why we feel very relaxed and - particularly important - trusting in the person we’re cuddling with. And that creates this sense of friendship and bonding.
It has been proven that the most effective and calming touch has a particular speed… light, slow stroking at exactly 2.5 cm/second. This is the caress that we are hard-wired to like.
Cuddle Therapy
Cuddle therapy involves hugs, stroking, squeezes - all sorts of forms of platonic non-sexual touch. It’s a very simple practice. Yet it can actually have very powerful effects on people.
According to the Touch Test study of almost 40000 people in more than 110 countries, the majority of people are not getting enough touch in their lives.
The problem in its more severe form is known as “touch hunger” or “touch starvation”.
Apparently, this is spreading like a wild fire and threatens to affect more of us.
If we are in a situation where we’re unable to touch the people close to us that we normally touch, we gradually lose the feelings of connection, empathy and trust.
If you deprive an animal of touch, the animal becomes sick, developing a lot of anxiety, will also live less, and will be less healthy in the long term. And human beings respond the same way to the lack of touch, with increased anxiety and depression and weak immune systems.
Touch in the times of SARS-CoV-2
The whole social concept of touch is changing in society, making us feel more anxious and confused. We quickly learn to inhibit ourselves.
There’s no clear understanding regarding the way people will interact after the pandemic.
Hopefully we won’t ever lose the sense of importance of touch.
On a funny note, we only hope that the future will be touch and cuddles and hugs all day. Every day.
