The Healing Power of Touch: From Experiments with Premature Infants to Warm Prescriptions for Adult Mental Health

The skin is the largest organ in the human body, with approximately 8,000 nerve endings in each fingertip-sized area. When the skin is touched, neurons send messages to the spinal cord and then to the brain. Even unconscious people can respond to skin touch, such as having their hand held, which can alter their heart rate. Touching a patient can help release endorphins in their brain, thus suppressing pain. Contact is essential for human health. Receiving information from the skin can be very helpful in relieving stress and strengthening the immune system. For some people, the information transmitted through the skin can alleviate their symptoms, such as diabetes, migraines, and asthma. Stop numbing yourself with food; try seeking comfort in the warm touch of someone else.

In fact, women's skin is more sensitive to touch than men's. Because they lack the chemicals that help relieve stress, women's stress levels can be higher. Therefore, women can benefit more from touch, which has a healing effect. If a woman feels disconnected from others, she can "break the ice" through physical touch. People can start by hugging, or, if the other person is willing, kissing a friend's cheek. Hugging helps relieve stress because it makes us feel the warmth of human connection. You might be surprised by the other person's pleasant reaction to a hug. If you don't want to hug, you can try patting the other person on the back in a reassuring way. If it's someone close enough, you can also take a walk hand in hand.

Touching someone's hand while talking can make them feel good, and you feel good when you make others happy. Giving can benefit you more than receiving. It can help alleviate feelings of loneliness and depression. When people experience physical connection with others, they visit doctors less often and become more sociable. This is similar to what we learned: "forces work together." One study found that restaurant customers tend to receive larger tips if the waiter touches them (whether on the shoulder or hand) while giving change. Physical touch on premature infants can even be a matter of life and death. Research shows that infants actually need to be touched. The Institute for Tactile Research (TRI) at the University of Miami is a leading institution researching the effects of touch on human health. They studied the impact of gentle physical touch on the growth of premature infants during their incubator period.

Studies have found that providing premature infants with physical cues through skin-to-skin touch for ten consecutive days can make them more alert, responsive, and active than infants who do not receive such cues, and they also gain weight 47% faster. (This can also help reduce colic.) Premature infants who receive these cues can leave the hospital an average of six days earlier than those who do not. If a person does not receive enough physical contact in childhood, they may develop violent tendencies later in life. Additionally, physical cues can help improve the attention span of children with autism. People can provide physical contact to children by cuddling with them while watching television or by stroking their backs while they sleep. Children who can cuddle with their parents while sleeping feel more secure and loved.

In today's stressful and fast-paced society, people are receiving more information than ever before, perhaps because they don't get enough physical contact in their daily lives. With the increasing prevalence of sexual harassment and child abuse, the issue of insufficient physical contact in society has drawn attention. In fact, surveys of couples in various countries have revealed that Puerto Rico has the highest rate of physical contact, while the United States has one of the lowest. This lack of physical contact can have a very negative impact on people's development and mental health.