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What is Touch Factor
To
explain it in the simplest terms, touch is communication.
Touch is multilingual, multiracial and multigenerational. It is the first
sensory system to introduce comfort to us as infants and for many it is the
last system that will allow others to comfort us in our later years.
Touch is the first
sensory system to develop, and it will continue to function even after
sight and hearing have failed [1]. Some 1.6 m² of skin
surround an adult body, making skin the largest sense organ. Because it
cannot be 'shut off', it is in a constant state of readiness to receive
messages. The first sensory input in life comes from the sense of touch
while the fetus is in the womb, and touch continues to be the primary
means of experiencing the world through infancy and well into childhood,
indeed playing a major sensory role right through to old age.[2]
Touch
is also extremely powerful.
Do you remember Helen Keller? Her teacher,
Anne Sullivan, initially broke into the seven-year-old Helen's world by
running cold water over her hand, and then taught her how to communicate by
finger-spelling on the palm.
"Touch is as important as breathing,"
explains Dr. Tiffany Field, director of The Touch Research Institute at the
University of Miami School of Medicine, the world's first center devoted
solely to the study of touch and its application in science and medicine. "Without
it, children do not grow and develop." And I would add that without it,
adults would grow more isolated, lonely and ill ( both emotionally and
physically).
The power of touch in
young children was demonstrated in a study in which one group of
preschool children in a pediatric ward was given only verbal comfort
when they showed distress, while the other was given simultaneous verbal
and tactile comfort, including holding, patting, rocking, stroking and
being offered a pacifier. Only 7 of the 40 verbal comforts succeeded in
quieting the children, but 53 of the 60 tactile-verbal comforts were
successful [3].
For my purposes, touch is
also the purest form of healing[4]. The
mechanical, neurological and emotional effects of touch have been around
since the beginning of mankind. Granted, there has been a lot added to it,
however it is universally accepted that respectful, caring touch from one
human being to another is the single most profound healing, restorative and
calming thing that anyone can do.
So for me, "touch
factor" is simply a way to powerfully communicate to your body that it is
time to heal and to your mind that it is time to relax. It is an invitation
to treat yourself well in this moment and to nourish yourself for all of the
important tasks that your body and mind need to accomplish....after an
incredible massage!
[1] Field T: Touch. MIT Press, Cambridge,
Mass., 2003.
[2] The Importance of Touch, Tiffany Field,
University of Miami School of Medicine
[3] Triplett J, Arneson S: The use of verbal and tactile
comfort to alleviate distress in young hospitalized children.
Res Nurs Health 1979;126:101–110.
[4] Numerous research studies performed by
http://www6.miami.edu/touch-research |
