The Sustainable Power of Touch
How our least understood sense may contribute to family and global well being.
The physiological effects of loving touch read
like a pharmaceutical company’s wonder drug.
Touching lowers the stress hormone cortisol,
and boosts “feel-good” endorphins, along with
oxytocin, the hormone largely responsible for
bonding behavior. In both children and adults,
the physiological effects of positive touch include:
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• Strengthened immune system
• Lowered heart rate
• Lowered blood pressure
• Increased circulation
• Reduced pain
• Reduced stress, anxiety and fatigue
But the benefits of touch reach far beyond the
merely physical. Babies who do not receive
adequate human interaction – and especially
loving touch – become depressed and anxious,
fail to grow properly, experience developmental delays, and are prone to violence and
compulsive and/or anti-social behavior. Touch
deprivation, in extreme cases, can even result
in death.
An unexpected Benefit of Touch
Scientists are just beginning to study how
touch affects communication and human
interaction. But early research is yielding intriguing results. A recent University of California, Berkely study of NBA basketball players
reveals a particularly compelling reason to pay
attention to how – and how much – we touch
each other.
Photography by Marta Locklear
Most of us give little thought to the sense of
touch, which often lags behind the other senses
in our conscious awareness. But we ignore it at
our peril.