Human beings were meant to touch and be touched. Often times, however, living in a modern, digital world, we may find ourselves a bit touch-deprived. Touch deprivation can impact one's mind, body and spirit in different ways. Massage therapy and gentle touch are great ways to give some attention to this very primal need for touch. In this article, we will look at the importance and the benefits of touch in general, and specifically how massage therapy can improve one's mental health and wellness.
The impact of touch begins before even entering this world, in the the mother's womb. Touch is the very first sense to form, with development starting at around 8 weeks. The sense of touch initially begins with sensory receptor development in the face, mostly on the lips and nose. Over the next several months, touch receptors begin to develop on other parts of the body: the palms and soles by 12 weeks and the abdomen by 17 weeks. At 26 weeks, babies can move in response to a hand being rubbed on the mother's belly. Brain scans on unborn infants suggest fetuses do not sense pain until after 30 weeks, when the somatosensory neural pathways finish developing. By the mid-third trimester, however, the baby is able to experience a full range of sensations, including heat, cold, pressure, and pain in every part of the body.
Babies are born unable to see more than 12'' away, and their sense of hearing doesn't fully develop until they are 4 weeks old. Babies first experience the world is through touch. Touch is essential to a baby's survival. They can feel secure and safe in their environment through gentle touch and body warmth by whoever cares for them. Touch can stabilize a baby's breathing, body temperature, and even blood sugar levels.
The very first language we learn as humans is touch. Loving and kind touch can actually wire the brain for social success. A recent study found maternal touch during play was associated with greater connectivity among regions of the brain associated with social behavior among 5-year-olds. These findings suggest that gentle, nurturing touch, which is sensed by nerve endings beneath the skin, stimulate areas of the brain associated with social and emotional development – the “social brain” - and strengthens those neural connections.
Let's get into some details of skin and the science of touch.
Your skin is an amazing organ covering the surface of your body. It has millions of sensors that sense feelings in many different forms like, pain, temperature, and pressure. Different kinds of sensors respond to different sensations. One square inch of your skin contains about 200 sensors for pain, fewer than 10 for temperature, and about 15 for light touch and pressure from forces applied to your skin.
When a person is touched, millions of receptors in the skin react and produce micro currents, which reach different regions of the brain via a dense network of nerve fibers. Touch is considered one of the most basic ways in which individuals interact with the world around them.
Layers of the Skin
Our skin is our largest organ of our body, making up about 15% of your total body weight. The epidermis is the outermost layer of skin and regenerates every 27 days for an average adult. This process is most active at night with cell regeneration taking place 8 times faster between the hours of 2 and 3am. As skin regenerates, it sloughs off dead cells amounting to about one gram per day. Over an average lifetime, you will lose about 44 pounds of skin. Skin is a major sensory organ, containing 32 feet of nerves per square inch, and has over 8 feet of blood vessels per square inch. Skin responds to 5 basic sensations: pressure, touch, cold, heat and pain.
Touch Deprivation
There are many names for it- touch deprivation, touch starvation, touch hunger and more- and it is a real problem for many people around the world. When humans experience a lack of touch, their bodies may release more of the hormone cortisol as a response to this stress. This activates the body's flight-or-fight response, which can increase heart rate, blood pressure, respiration and muscle tension. This stress can also negatively impact one's sleep, immune system and other physical, mental and emotional functioning. Many people experience loneliness and isolation when they feel they are without physical connection for too long.
So how can Massage Therapy help touch deprivation?
Massage is one of the oldest and simplest forms of healthcare. It is depicted in Egyptain tomb paintings as well as mentioned in ancient Chinese, Japanese, Indian and ancient Greek texts. There are about 75 forms of massage used today. Finding a therapist that you connect with is very important as it helps you to fully relax and truly gain all the benefits massage has to offer. Here are some ways that massage therapy can help someone experiencing touch deprivation, or just simply those needing some relaxation:
Promotes Good Sleep
A firm, steady, trusting touch can help ease the system into deep relaxation, which can help many people sleep more deeply at the end of their day. One reason this could be, is that massage can increase someone's serotonin levels, which is needed to help create melatonin. Melatonin is the hormone that regulates someone's sleep-wake cycle. In general, massage also helps to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the "rest and digest" mode, as opposed to the "flight-or-fight" mode.
Pain Relief
Touch can help relieve physical pain, as it can increase circulation and help with muscle relaxation. This can help reduce stress and make it easier to cope with pain. In addition, physical touch stimulates nerve receptors in the skin, which can help distract from pain and create a feeling of comfort.
Promotes Positive Mental States
Nearly 1 in 5 Americans has some type of mental health condition. Physical touch, including massage, increases levels of dopamine and serotonin, two neurotransmitters that help regulate your mood and relieve stress and anxiety. Dopamine is also known to regulate the pleasure center in your brain that can offset feelings of anxiety. Massage therapy can also alter one’s state of consciousness. The brain emits small electrical charges which can be measured by an electroencephalograph or EEG. These impulses are categorized by their frequencies or wave patterns and tell us about our state of mind:
During a massage, brain waves slow down from the Beta state into the Alpha state. One study shows that a massage treatment can significantly decrease α and β waves. Similar interactions are also seen on theta and delta rhythms.
Beta state – This is the typical brain state throughout the day (alert and wide awake). Our brain waves pulse from 14 to 30 times a second.
Alpha state – Often associated with mild relaxation. Alpha waves (8 to 12 Hz) are present when your brain is idle or consciously practicing meditation.
Theta state – This occurs most often in sleep but are also dominant during deep meditation.
Delta state – Also known as the twilight state. This momentarily happens as you drift off to sleep and arise from deep sleep.
In his article “Epidermis as the ‘Third Brain?’” Japanese researcher Mitsuhiro Denda, PhD, introduces the idea that the epidermis (the outermost layer of skin) could be considered the “third brain” (next to the digestive tract as the “second brain”), as it contains multiple environmental sensors and a sensory information-processing system, and generates a variety of hormones and neurotransmitters with the potential to influence whole-body states and emotions.
Social Bonding
Touch is often associated with social bonding and intimacy, which can promote feelings of security and well-being. Even with platonic massage therapy touch, we can help reduce feelings of isolation and loneliness, which are common stressors in today's modern world.
Reduce Cortisol Levels
Massage can naturally cause the secretion of several hormones related to pleasure and relaxation.
Serotonin – a neurotransmitter that regulates our mood, controls our hunger and promotes sleep. It also promotes healing in damaged cell tissue.
Dopamine – a neurotransmitter that regulates movement and emotional responses. A massage heightens dopamine concentration in our bodies, giving us that natural high that comes with eating chocolate or drinking a fine glass of wine.
Oxytocin – a neurotransmitter known to facilitate social bonding. Oxytocin is released during touch and when you feel safe.
These three hormones help reduce cortisol, the stress hormone. Cortisol weakens the activity of the immune system. It can also trigger hunger pangs and eating binges which may cause you to crave for unhealthy food.
So while massage still tends to be thought of either as a luxury activity to pamper yourself or as something sport-specific, it’s now starting to be seen as a valuable element in health care, because it has been shown not only to decrease pain and tightness in muscles, but also to help relieve symptoms of anxiety, stress, and sleeping disorders.
Self-Soothe to prevent touch deprivation
Don't always have access to massage therapy? No problem. You can soothe the brain and body by yourself by trying some of these activities:
Cross your arms across your chest and rest your fingertips on the top of your shoulders, then move your hands down your arms to your elbows, like a moving hug.
Alternatively, you can also use palm havening. Pretend you’re washing your hands and rub the palms of your hands together slowly.
Enjoying a warm bath can be very grounding for some, as well as using a weighted blanket at night.
Gently stroke your own arm, cradle your own face with your hands and give light caresses to your face and scalp, place one hand over the belly and one hand over the heart, crossing your arms and giving yourself a gentle hug, and many other ways to self-soothe.
Now it is more important than ever to bring touch back to our daily lives. With the pandemic from 2020, our general internet-driven lifestyle, and other factors, some people are truly still touch-deprived. This basic biological need is so important for our overall health and wellbeing; and we can all do our part in sharing gentle touch with loved ones whether it is a hug, holding hands, or massage. Let's share more therapeutic touch and help create more peace in the world.
Please let me know how I can help you with massage therapy today, and thanks for taking the time to read this important message!
Amy
Resources:
https://utswmed.org/medblog/sensory-development-utero/#:~:text=Touch,on%20the%20lips%20and%20nose.
Skin image: https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/neuroscience/chapter/touch-the-skin/
https://www.massagemag.com/new-massage-research-is-uncovering-the-why-behind-touch-benefits-124862/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S102781171500049X
https://www.pesi.com/blog/details/2022/reduce-anxiety-with-self-havening-touch-breathwork
https://blog.mighty-well.com/2018/07/can-massage-help-with-chronic-illness/#:~:text=During%20a%20massage%2C%20brain%20waves,on%20theta%20and%20delta%20rhythms.
"Your body is your Subconscious mind" by Candace Pert, Ph.D.
news.columbia .edu Medical Center Researcher Explores What Happens When We Touch by Melanie Farmer
Comments