Healthcare focuses on treatments, medications, and regimes to improve health but often forgets human touch.

Once, on a trip with a friend to Mexico, she became ill as we were in a small airport waiting room, seated on benches against the wall. As we sat there, a middle-aged Mexican couple came over to sit beside us, and as they did, the woman began moving closer to my friend. She moved so close that their arms and shoulders were touching, and the two of us, being Americans, wondered if something criminal would happen.

The man, sensing our concern, turned and said with a smile, "My wife sees your friend isn't well and is sitting with her to give her strength." I hadn't thought much about it, but recent research is pointing to the power of human touch and how it is vital that we incorporated it into not simply our lives but even our healthcare. I don't know if there is a psychic component, such as the Mexican woman sitting next to my friend, but that has yet to be explored and, perhaps, it will also offer new insights.

The pandemic brought attention to the idea of touch, and we need a deeper understanding of the ways in which physical touch, and the absence of it when we withdraw socially, can impact our psychological and physiological health.

From aiding development and growth to buffering against anxiety and stress, the most common touch interventions — like kangaroo care for newborns or massage for adults — have a broad range of mental and physical health benefits that persist throughout the lifespan of both animals and humans.

Although there is a great deal of evidence in the literature supporting the benefits of touch, there is also variation in the studied cohorts, the type and duration of applied touch, the measured health outcomes, the type of person applying the touch (e.g., a partner versus a stranger), and the outcomes such as a one-time hug versus repeated 60-minute massages.

During the pandemic, people were anxious about breathing and physical touch, which caused them to withdraw socially and experience emotional pain. It provided a brilliant illustration of our need for touch. Some people may not get the non-sexual physical touch they need, which is known as tactile deprivation.

According to studies, physical touch positively affects health at all life stages, including reducing anxiety and strengthening emotional bonds. Isolated people can find comfort in self-care, pets, or soft touch. But as individuals, we still rely heavily on the desire for physical touch and human connection to thrive. One graphic illustration that shows how lack of human touch is important for the maintenance of life and development in infants was the research of Rene Spitz after World War II in orphanages.

The children were provided with everything that they needed in terms of food, clothing, and medical care, but the one thing that was not provided was human touch. The result was that the children developed poorly and failed to thrive (aka hospitalism and anaclitic depression) and some died within their first three years.

Another important series of research experiments was carried out by Harry Harlow with rhesus monkeys and lack of attachment for infant monkeys. Considered both controversial and inhumane, it nevertheless supported the idea of tactile comfort being necessary for the young.

No one has to tell animals about the need for touch, and you can readily see it if you watch kittens together who were sleeping or, as I've recently seen on the Internet, dogs and cats slubbering together. I've even seen a hen who had been used to hatch duck eggs, lovingly care for her ducks and try to cover them beneath her at night as they all slept. It was genuinely touching.

One Touch Impediment

Unfortunately, the pandemic and other easily spread diseases have made people less likely to connect with each other in person. Not only are handshakes not accepted anymore, but other forms of touch may not be enough to have the same positive effect. Because of this, our society has been affected by our need to be careful about touching, closeness, and physical interactions.

We must wonder if a caring or interested look can make up for some of the fact that we cannot touch as before. Is there another way to achieve the same kind of biological process that has an impact on our mental and physical health? Future study is the only way to find out what factors were at play and how to move forward.

Touch treatments are suitable for your mental and physical health. And touch interventions have been shown to help reduce depression and worry in adults, children, and newborns. They can also help newborns gain weight. These results agree with those of earlier research on this subject.

Researchers found that more touch sessions correlated with better results, such as reduced depression, anxiety, and pain in adults. Chronic illnesses that make people sad and anxious often happen at the same time as loneliness. It is possible to ameliorate this through touch. Knowing the toucher did not change the health benefits for either adults or children. On the other hand, newborns’ general health benefits were affected by familiarity, with a touch from a parent being better than a touch from medical staff.

One more thing about touch that study papers talk about shows how important it is for kids’ intellectual growth. Students who had their teachers gently touch them seemed to do better in school than students who did not get this kind of physical support. But, in a world concerned about inappropriate touch, it can be assumed that teachers and other mentors of children would be more unwilling to engage in any type of touch.

Overall, how it can be suitably engaged in touch remains one of our most basic and primitive forms of attachment, belonging, and safety. It also engages specific, healthy hormone production, as well as helping to maintain our immune system. Therefore, touch cannot be dismissed since it is a potent form of health maintenance.