Human Touch @COVIDhug&Kiss
By: Vinod Bhardwaj
Tags: Gratitude, Compassion, Empathy, Human Touch, Kisses And Hugs

A pat on the back, a caress of the arm — these are every day, incidental gestures that we usually take for granted, thanks to our amazingly dexterous hands. But after years spent immersed in the science of touch, I can tell you that they are far more profound than we usually realize: They are our primary language of compassion and a primary means for spreading kindness. In recent years, a wave of studies has documented some incredible emotional and physical health benefits from touch. This research is suggesting that touch is truly fundamental to human communication, bonding, and health.

Ethnologists who live in different parts world quickly recognize this. Nonhuman primates spend about 10 to 20 percent of their waking day grooming each other. If you go to various other countries, people spend a lot of time in direct physical contact with one another — much more than we do. One of my favorite examples is a study from the 1960s by pioneering psychologist Sidney Jourard, who studied friends’ conversations in different parts of the world as they sat in a café together. He observed these conversations for the same amount of time in each of the other countries.

What did he find? In England, the two friends touched each other zero times. In the United States, in bursts of enthusiasm, we touched each other twice. But in France, the number shot up to 110 times per hour. And in Puerto Rico, those friends touched each other 180 times!. India is a crowd. And the most curious and conflicting feature that this crowd manifests is in its relationship with the sensation of touch. This country is perennially obsessed with a desire to touch you, pretty much everywhere on your body.

A review of research conducted by Tiffany Field, a leader in the field of touch, found that preterm newborns who received just three 15-minute sessions of touch therapy each day for 5–10 days gained 47 percent more weight than premature infants who’d received standard medical treatment. Similarly, research by Darlene Francis and Michael Meaney had found that rats whose mothers licked and groomed them a lot when they were infants grow up to be calmer and more resilient to stress, with a more robust immune system. This research sheds light on why, historically, an overwhelming percentage of human babies in orphanages where caretakers starved them of touch have failed to grow to their expected height or weight and have shown behavioral problems. “To touch can be to give life,” said Michelangelo, and he was right. From this frontier of touch research, we know that thanks to neuroscientist Edmund Rolls, touch activates the brain’s orbitofrontal cortex, which is linked to feelings of reward and compassion. Studies are showing that touch signals safety and trust; it soothes. Essential warm touch calms cardiovascular stress. It activates the body’s vagus nerve, which is intimately involved with our compassionate response, and a simple touch can trigger the release of oxytocin, aka “the love hormone.”

When was the last time you hugged someone? Since the start of the pandemic, putting physical distance between yourself and others has become the norm. As a result, showing affection for friends and loved ones through hugs, hand-holding, high-fives, you name it — has been out of the question for many people. If this behavior change has weighed heavy on you, it’s because physical touch is vital to our health and well-being. “Physical touch can increase the release of oxytocin, the ‘feel-good’ hormone, which can then lead to optimistic thinking and feelings of compassion for others,” says Dr. Won-Fong Lau Johnson, a clinical psychologist at UW Medicine. “It can also help reduce social anxiety and stress.” So, if you’ve been deprived of something as simple as a hug for months on end, it’s normal to feel the effects of that absence. Going without human contact is referred to as “touch deprivation” or “skin hunger.” “Touch deprivation can lead to increased stress and symptoms of depression such as loneliness or aggression,” explains Lau Johnson. Add that on top of all the other anxiety symptoms provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic, and things can start to feel overwhelming.

But there’s some good news: There are ways to get in that hug you’ve been missing while limiting the risk of exposure to COVID-19. Suppose you don’t feel comfortable engaging in any form of physical touch or cannot see friends or family due to geographic constraints (farewell, family summer vacation plans). In that case, there are other ways to feel affection, even if you cannot physically be with people.

“Pets can elicit the same amount of that ‘feel good’ hormone called oxytocin, and studies have shown that pets can reduce stress as well as symptoms of depression and anxiety,” says Lau Johnson. “Pets can be very unconditional in their love and, at the core, humans want to feel loved and needed.”

If you don’t have a furry friend, Lau Johnson recommends activities that focus on self-care and prioritize your health and well-being.

“If you live alone, turn your attention to improving your mental health by ensuring you are obtaining adequate sleep, nutrition, social connectedness, exercise, and stress management,” says Lau Johnson. Video calls with friends or family can also have mental health benefits. “Especially in a time like this, with this collective trauma that we’re all going through, it’s important for us to find spaces where we feel safe and people we trust,” says Lau Johnson. “Schedule virtual check-ins with supportive friends or family members. Express what’s going on and get to the core of what you’re feeling.”

“Considering we do not have a vaccine yet, I believe it is best to take extra precautions and avoid deep kissing, unless it is your live-in partner,” I suggest. “And, if you simply can’t resist your new beau’s lips, then practice the harm-reduction approach.”

But to me, the science of touch convincingly suggests that we’re wired to — we need to — connect with other people on a basic physical level. To deny that is to deprive ourselves of some of life’s greatest joys and deepest comforts. Happy human touch