The Importance and The Power of Human Touch.

[Music]

ah

great

wow breathing

and touching whoever would have thought

these things

would have become fraught with anxiety

for so many people would have been

subject

to rules and regulations

ah breathing and touching

so fundamental for all of us human

beings

and so important at this point of time

to be aware of how we breathe and who we

touch

so many social restrictions stay two

meters away

wash your hands wear a mask

all of these things are important to

protect ourselves

and other people at this time of

pandemic

many people are suffering and dealing

with

symptoms of the covet virus

and suffering physically but there are

so many people who are suffering

emotionally because of this virus

people dealing with isolation anxiety

depression even suicidal thoughts

so difficult for so many people

and i’ve spoken to countless people

over these last months and so many

people report

feeling just not good in their skin

and when i really asked what it was

people were experiencing tactile

deprivation what do i mean

by tactile deprivation

touch tactile deprivation

lack of and touch is something that we

all need for healthy

function and to really thrive

in the world as human beings so many

people are cocooning

and isolating and shielding

and lacking touch and we took

touch for granted hugs

cuddles high fives handshakes

and now there’s this absence of touch

and we really miss it

and it’s like our skin is hungry for

touch

and i’m not talking about sexual touch

i’m talking about non-sexual physical

contact

and we all need that to survive

so skin hunger tactile deprivation

when were you last touched when were you

last

hugged when will you be next

touched or next hugged

how did it feel did it bring up

a kind of a longing and a relief or did

it make you feel sad

was it something you really missed

touch is always emotional

and we all need good physical touch

we’ve all seen images of romanian babies

who lack touch they

survived but they didn’t thrive and to

really thrive as a human being

we need contact and you think of that

word

con and tact with touch

we’re apes we like to touch each other

to groom

it’s part of our social function

it determines who we are and when we

don’t have touch

we miss it and so many people

are missing touch right now now i don’t

take it for granted

the touch is a positive experience for

everybody

if you’ve had good bonding as a child

then touch is something you really enjoy

and you can relax

into it and you can trust it

but if touch has been something fraught

with

difficulty abuse maybe there hasn’t been

appropriate touch

it’s not something that you will relax

into

something you’ll avoid but for most

people touch is an essential part of

being

human now you may ask why does this

interest me

this whole area of touch has been

fundamental to my work for the last

40 years or so i trained as a

psychotherapist and a massage therapist

and a bodywork therapist and i

understand the connection between the

mind and the body

i have always been more interested in

the psychological application of touch

more really than just the manipulation

of muscles

many years ago i was invited

to give a lecture in sweden

at the first conference on death and

dying

the reason i was invited was because i

had

taught massage to nurses

at the michael sobel hospice i’d been

many times president of the irish

massage

therapists association and i was asked

to teach the nurses

and i could see what they were doing had

beneficial effects

they were working with their patients

who were terminally ill and they

found that anxiety was decreased

when massage was introduced as part of a

care plan

people slept better pain seemed to

diminish

and so on and i knew these things

from what i could see and from what

people were reporting back

but when i was asked to give this talk i

was much younger

more insecure and i decided well i

needed

facts and research to substantiate and

back up what i knew to be true

intuitively

so i spent two days in a medical library

in london

trolling through journals and magazines

and so on looking for research

about the importance and the benefits of

human touch

believe me this was the time before the

internet

there was nothing there there were

research papers

on monkeys who gravitated

towards terry cloth monkeys rather than

barbed wire monkeys

but nothing about human touch

so i gave my lecture

and i gave it on the basis of what i

knew

and i felt was right and since then

there has been so much research in the

last 40 years

on touch if you have a body

touch is beneficial from the cradle to

the grave

touch with pre-term infants touch with

toddlers

touch with adolescents touch with the

bereaved

touch in palliative care it’s part

and fundamental part of being human

i’m also a funeral celebrant and i have

seen

first hand how people have been been

impacted

by this lack of touch at this particular

time

touch it says more than a thousand words

it’s soothing it connects it gives you

support

it helps us get through difficult times

and many people have complicated grief

and bereavement issues because of this

lack of human connection and human

contact

as human beings i believe that love

is one of our greatest

greatest greatest things that we can

express and we can express that through

our hands

if you think of our capacity to love and

how we express

i believe that our hands grow directly

out of our hearts

and our hands are a vehicle to connect

up

with other people

i’d like you to look at a slide or two

slides that i have here

they’re interesting slides and what they

represent

is a proportional representation

of the human body and a cross-section

of the cerebral cortex one showing motor

function

and one showing sensory function

and if you look at it the parts of the

brain related to the hand

there’s a lot of motor function in the

hand it’s very complicated

and if you look at the parts the brain

related to

sensation and the hand you’ll see how

sensitive

the hand is the hand

feels so much the hand

feels all kinds of textures and the hand

not only

feels but also feels emotionally

touch is so important in our lives

and at this time we need to feel

connected

and we need to understand the benefits

of human touch

and how that can help us and we think of

the benefits

tactile stimulation of the skin somebody

once referred to the skin as a sort of

second brain it relates to the

immune system it relates to the

digestive system

it relates to all the systems in the

human body

there are so many sensory receptors

in the skin and when they’re stimulated

anxiety decreases

when we’re anxious when we’re lonely

when we’re depressed

we have a lot of cortisol in our systems

that makes us feel anxious and tense

but when we’re relaxed and the skin

is stimulated all kinds of other

hormones are released oxytocin

dopamine and these things

increase your sense of well-being

isn’t that amazing that stimulation of

the skin

has such a deep effect on so many

systems of the body

so what can we do about that if we’re in

relationships

well and good we can have our partners

or our families

working with us to soothe and to cuddle

and comfort and to hug

but so many people are living on their

own

so what can what can they do

to support themselves and self-nourish

and care and comfort

at this time well there’s lots that can

be done

we can intentionally soothe our skins

it doesn’t matter if you’re doing it

through clothes or skin to skin

but gentle stroking can make you feel

comforted and that has a deep response

on as i said all the systems of body

soothing caring massaging

holding

if you have partners or if you have

children

sit on the couch hug them back rubs

if you’re on your own and you have a pet

the interesting thing about touch is the

benefits are mutual

if you stroke your pet he or she will

respond

and so will you it will be a beneficial

experience

stimulate your skin with showers with

the wind

cuddle yourself in a blanket and just

know that all these things are having a

beneficial effect

on your whole body

so let’s hope that when this pandemic is

over

and we can get back out there and we can

hug our friends and comfort and cuddle

and reach out that we will all remember

the importance of skin contact

and the fact that your hands really are

rooted in your heart

and they are a vehicle for expressing

love into our world

[Music]

you