The feeling of taking a child by the hand or a hug from the other half or a warm handshake from an old friend - any form of benevolent touch gives a good feeling. But why? What happens to your brain when someone touches you? What happens to your relationship with that person? And how can understanding the facts about touch make you happier and healthier?
What science says about touch
Humans are social creatures. Of course, we don't really need to prove it - we know it instinctively. Positive interactions with other people make us feel happy, while loneliness leads us to feel bad.
Hugging and other forms of non-sexual touch cause the brain to release oxytocin, known as the "bonding hormone". It stimulates the release of other feel-good hormones such as dopamine and serotonin, while reducing stress hormones such as cortisol and norepinephrine. These neurochemical changes make you feel happier and less stressed.
Simply put, touch improves your mental and physical well-being.
Facts about touch and relationships
Oxytocin is a peptide hormone and neuropeptide normally produced in the hypothalamus and secreted by the posterior pituitary gland. It plays an important role in social communication and reproduction. Oxytocin is released into the bloodstream as a hormone in response to touch or sexual activity.
Gratitude, in particular, is such a powerful bonding emotion that many researchers have considered it the psychological "glue" that keeps people close. Your body rewards you for making social connections by releasing oxytocin. As a result, it also makes you more successful at building and maintaining relationships.
Research has shown that oxytocin makes you feel more generous, empathetic, cooperative, and grateful, all of which help you become a good partner, parent, friend, and co-worker.
Physical contact is just as important in building new relationships. For example, when strangers shake your hand, you're more likely to trust them, not only because it's a friendly gesture, but because their touch produces oxytocin, which makes you trust them more.
Touch is also a powerful and versatile way to communicate different emotions. Just think of all the different reasons someone might shake your hand - to show support and sympathy during difficult times, to convey love, to comfort you (and yourself) in scary situations.
Each of those touches conveys something different, and each one feels a little different.
To prove this, researchers at Berkeley paired strangers and separated them with a barrier with a small hole. One participant put their hand through the hole, while the other tried to convey 12 unique emotions by briefly touching their partner's hands. Overall, the touched subjects were able to detect gratitude, sympathy, and love with about 55 to 60 percent accuracy.
Science has provided many facts about touch, but perhaps the most important is this: Humans needed to touch and be touched, spend time in the company of other people, and form emotional connections.
In today's digital world, it's easy to forget the importance of face-to-face communication, but you can't beat email. by mail or hug by text message.
To get a dose of oxytocin and feel better, touch, cherish, kiss.
Exercise can give you the same stimulation as a hug, but the emotional-psychological component will still be missing.
