Food is one of the obvious necessities for human survival. Water. Oxygen. Touch is a less apparent and more difficult to grasp element. Touch might seem less important than food and water at first, but studies have shown that touch is actually very powerful.
We're not saying that without human contact, you would suffer physical harm the same as if you were deprived of food or water, but scientists agree that touch is vital to your wellbeing.
Psychology Today explains that the need to be touched by another human being is a primal, basic desire. Touch deprivation has been linked to negative health outcomes, such as depression, anxiety and immune system disorders.
Academics and scientists are studying the impact of touch in wellbeing for some time. However, it is perhaps even more important now because we spend so much time on our smartphones and online interacting rather than actually meeting. This is before even considering the effects of the Pandemic, which forced people to be physically distant from each other and made human contact even more rare.
The science of touch was born in Romania in the 1990s when two scientists went to Romania to study the effects of sensory deprivation on children living in orphanages with inadequate staffing. Jonathan Jones, an Emmy-nominated journalist, explains in an article by Berkley University’s Greater Good Magazine that the touch-deprived kids had lower levels of cortisol, and a slower growth rate for their age.
Touch plays an important role in human development, both physical and psychological. Recent studies continue to demonstrate the value of touch in early development and communication as well as personal relationships.
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