Tactile hunger: why touch and hug are so important and how to make up for them

Scientists are concerned that in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic - in an unambiguously stressful situation - many people are forced to isolate themselves alone. Not only live communication has significantly decreased, but also the number of bodily contacts between people. The lack of these factors is called "tactile (skin) hunger", and this condition can seriously affect physical and mental health.

What is tactile hunger

Skin hunger, or tactile hunger, is a person's biological need for touch. Degges-White S. Skin Hunger, Touch Starvation, and Hug Deprivation do not have this phenomenon. Psychology Today has a common name, it is also described in other terms: touch hunger / starvation, touch deprivation.

Tactile hunger arises Park W. Why human touch is so hard to replace. BBC Future, when a person notices the difference between the actual and the desired amount of physical contact - this can be compared to the usual lack of food. Moreover, the norm of touching is individual for everyone. There are people who need bodily contact all the time, and there are those who categorically do not accept being touched. Most are somewhere in between.

Childhood experiences may be one reason why people have different attitudes towards body contact. For example, children from families in which their parents often hugged are more likely to do the same in adulthood.

The decline in skin-to-skin contact began long before the pandemic. In today's world, families have become Burton N. Touch Hunger. Psychology Today is smaller, the flow of information has increased significantly (we are more and more "communicating" with gadgets) and people have become isolated from each other like never before.

In 2018, the Touch Research Institute launched Jones J. Americans are touching each other less-and it's making us more violent. APB monitor passengers at airports to determine how often they touch each other. It turned out that 98% of the time people are busy with their phones and there is no physical contact between them.

Social norms have also changed. Taking someone's hand or patting on the shoulder can be perceived as a violation of personal space.

Some countries, such as USA Field T. American Adolescents Touch Each Other Less and Are More Aggressive toward Their Peers as Compared with French Adolescents. Adolescence, even introduced the "immunity" rule in schools.

One of the first studies of tactile hunger was the 1959 experiment conducted by the American psychologist Harry Harlow. He, along with Robert Zimmerman, separated the baby monkeys from their mothers, giving them a choice of two substitutes: one made of wood and wire, and the other soft, covered with cloth. Most often, kids chose the latter, even though both the wooden doll and the rag doll had a bottle of milk. Based on this, Harlow introduced the concept of "comfort from contact", implying that the cubs from the mother need not only food, but also touch.

Newer research shows that touch is not only pleasant for the majority, but can also serve as a means of persuasion and motivation. So, restaurant visitors give more tips to waiters who touched them during the checkout. A teacher's touch helps students feel confident in themselves, and NBA teams that five or slap a teammate on the back are more likely to win.

But the pandemic has worsened the situation significantly, as almost all of us are forced to avoid physical contact. Kale S. Skin hunger helps explain your desperate longing for human touch. Wired problem of tactile hunger during quarantine. The results are as follows: 26% of respondents experience an acute lack of touch, and 16% - a moderate one.

What is the use of touching

Evolutionarily, a person is a social being: being close to other people increased (and to some extent still increases) the chances of survival. Therefore, our brain perceives Cassata C. How Touching Your Partner Can Make Both of You Healthier. Healthline touch as a sign that we are not alone, which means that we are safe.

During such contacts, Sharkey L is sent from sensors under the skin. What Does It Mean to Be Touch Starved? Healthline signals to the vagus nerve. It connects the brain to all other organs. Increasing the tone of the vagus nerve slows down the nervous system and activates several beneficial reactions in the body at once. The Man Becomes Cassata C. How Touching Your Partner Can Make Both of You Healthier. Healthline is less stressful: a smile may appear on the face, and relaxation of the muscles in the inner ear helps to listen more attentively.

Touching has other beneficial effects as well.

They help the body produce antidepressant hormones

Kale S. Skin hunger helps explain your desperate longing for human touch. Wired produces the hormone oxytocin. A similar process occurs, for example, during sex. Oxytocin promotes feelings of trust and affection, and may also slow aging.

Sharkey L. Recommended. What Does It Mean to Be Touch Starved? Healthline cuddle for at least 20 seconds a day - it is after this that oxytocin production begins.

Another important consequence of touch is a decrease in cortisol, the stress hormone. For couples who have more body-to-skin contact, specialists from Zurich recorded lower levels of cortisol.

Sharkey L. What Does It Mean to Be Touch Starved? Healthline at an early age. Being in maternal arms forms Cassata C. How Touching Your Partner Can Make Both of You Healthier. Healthline the baby has a sense of security and affection. Touching and hugging, in addition to releasing oxytocin, stimulates the production of serotonin and dopamine in children - natural antidepressants. Skin-to-skin contact can also affect the development of the vagus nerve and the oxytocin production system in general. This helps children build healthy relationships in the future, instead of trying to fulfill their need for tactile contact through fights.

They soothe

Touching lowers heart rate and blood pressure. Together with the change in the level of hormones in the body, this gives a feeling of peace and tranquility.

So, scientists from Oxford, Nottingham and Liverpool have found that slowly stroking the inner side of the forearm activates the "zone of affection". This makes it easier for children to cope with pain (for example, during medical procedures), and for adults to feel cared for. Researchers have even determined the ideal pace for such strokes: 3–5 centimeters Sharkey L. What Does It Mean to Be Touch Starved? Healthline per second.

The most "high quality" bodily contacts appear Park W. Why human touch is so hard to replace. BBC Future when there is a positive emotional connection between people. However, experts from London have found that gentle touch reduces feelings of loneliness, even if it comes from a stranger. It was for this purpose that in 2004 the Australian Juan Mann went out into the street with a sign “Free Hugs”. This is how the international movement of the same name appeared, the participants of which invite strangers to hug.

They have a beneficial effect on health and immunity

All of the above reactions of the body have a positive effect on our health. For example, lowering cortisol levels makes the immune system stronger, as cortisol destroys antiviral cells, white blood cells.

Skin-to-skin contact helps increase white blood cell counts, even in patients with cancer or HIV, and makes chemotherapy easier to tolerate.

A more measured heart rate and optimal blood pressure reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Why Lack of Body Contact Is Bad

Not touching regularly can have serious and long-term consequences.

Sharkey L. grows in people experiencing tactile hunger. What Does It Mean to Be Touch Starved? Healthline level of anxiety, the tendency to depression increases (and this also works in the opposite direction: the feeling of lack of touch can be a consequence of depression). They feel Floyd K. What Lack of Affection Can Do to You. Psychology Today themselves are unhappy and unnecessary, often suffer from alexithymia - the inability to express and interpret emotions. Also, tactile hunger can Kale S. Skin hunger helps explain your desperate longing for human touch. Wired to be one of the causes of sleep problems.

Also, due to the lack of touch, may Sharkey L. What Does It Mean to Be Touch Starved? Healthline develops a reluctance to form attachment to someone - accordingly, the person's chances of building a happy relationship are reduced.

People in this state are more likely to abuse psychoactive substances, and also think about self-harm or suicide.

Lack of touch sets off a "chain reaction" and can lead to a whole cascade of negative health consequences - from increased exposure to SARS to cardiovascular disease and cancer. Cortisol stress literally ruins Cassata C. How Touching Your Partner Can Make Both of You Healthier. Healthline is our body.

How to know when you miss touch

It is easy to confuse tactile hunger with depression - often people do not even realize that they are experiencing it. There is no definitive way to define a lack of touch. In its most general form, Sharkey L. points to it. What Does It Mean to Be Touch Starved? Healthline feeling extreme loneliness or lack of affection.

The symptoms of tactile hunger can be combined with the following manifestations:

feeling of depression;
stress and anxiety;
dissatisfaction in a relationship;
sleep problems;
a tendency to rash actions.

Often times, people who lack touch try Sharkey L. What Does It Mean to Be Touch Starved? Healthline imitate them: lie in a hot bath for a long time, wrap themselves in blankets and hug a pillow, show excessive affection towards animals.

Coping with a lack of tactile contact

Canadian prisoner Peter Collins, who spent 32 years in prison (most of them in solitary confinement), deliberately did not drive away Voices from Solitary: Fly in the Ointment. Solitary Watch by yourself flies. Their crawling on the body reminded him of his wife's touch - this is how Collins struggled with feelings of loneliness and lack of tactile feelings.

Fortunately, we do not need to take such drastic measures. It's not just Sharkey L. What Does It Mean to Be Touch Starved? Healthline for hugs, but also for kisses, sex, walking by the hand, friendly handshakes, pats on the shoulder, massage, back scratching, rubbing feet and even touching a hairdresser or makeup artist. Therefore, we have at our disposal quite a few ways to combat tactile hunger.

The most obvious one would be Sharkey L. What Does It Mean to Be Touch Starved? Healthline advice is to communicate more often with loved ones and touch them. For example, getting together on the couch to watch a movie, or holding hands with your significant other while shopping. Most importantly, do not regret touching your loved ones.

Another important point in dealing with tactile hunger is not to be afraid to admit to your partner that there is a lack of body contact if you feel it. You can suggest to learn pair dances, such as tango, where touching is indispensable.

If your partner is not around, take note of the following methods:

Get a massage. It's a proven way to relax and compensate for your lack of touch.
Greet people with handshakes or hugs (but only after a pandemic).
Go to a manicure or hairdresser.

If you are on self-isolation and cannot contact anyone at all, try the following Sharkey L. What Does It Mean to Be Touch Starved? Healthline:

Iron Park W. Why human touch is so hard to replace. BBC Future Pets. We have a strong emotional attachment to our pets, so physical contact with them can be much more effective than hugging a stranger.
Do self-massage - this will also have a result. Also, this can include the use of head massagers, back combers, and so on.
Move as much as possible - walking stimulates the receptors in the feet. You can also step on a tennis ball or small metal balls.
Touch things that are pleasant to the touch: a fluffy blanket, a mug of hot tea. Or, use a pleasantly scented body lotion after showering.

While this will not replace human touch, it will at least smooth out the effect of lack of touch.