Amazing Emotional Health Benefits of Touch.

Touching others is a way to establish deeper, healthier and closer communication. The benefits of touch are incredible, and they can even improve our health.

Touching others is getting harder and harder. We seem to live in a society with a fear of contact. We interact more and more through devices and screens and less through physical, real, face-to-face, skin-to-skin contact. As a result, we are missing out on the benefits of touch.

This shift opens up important questions about mental health and social relationships. It has been known for a long time that touching others and being touched is fundamental. So much so that the European Institute of Perinatal Mental Health has highlighted cases of babies dying from lack of physical contact.

"Healing the soul through the senses and the senses through the soul!"
-Oscar Wilde-

Dr. David J. Linden, author of Touch: The Science of the Hand, Heart, and Mind, points out that touch is also critical to the development of intelligence and cognitive skills.

There are several powerful reasons for touching others and allowing them to touch us. Here are some of the greatest benefits of touch.

The main benefits of touch.

1. Touching others makes communication easier.

We communicate with others through different forms and languages. However, one of the means that has the greatest impact on communication is precisely touch.

Through this, it is possible to achieve a 78% greater efficiency in the transmission of emotions, according to a study by psychologist Matther Hertenstein.

It is important to note that by touching others, we not only reinforce the messages we want to communicate, but we can also express with greater precision and intensity what we feel. A hug has much more impact than a "count on me".

2. It has positive effects on physical and mental health.

The skin has multiple receptors that connect directly to the brain. Science has proven that when someone receives a friendly touch, the brain reduces the production of cortisol, the stress hormone. This, in turn, strengthens the immune system.

It has also been established that massage is a more effective means of reducing migraine in women than pain relievers. Apparently, tactile signals reach the brain before pain signals.

3. Improves relationships between people.

Touching others is a means of achieving a more genuine connection with others. People tend to perceive people who give them a gentle touch on the forearm as more honest and affable. They are also more willing to cooperate with them.

Likewise, touching others is a sign of self-confidence and power. Others tend to regard as superior those who have constant physical contact with them. This superiority, however, is experienced as close and reliable.

4. Increases the ability to seduce.

An important part of attraction comes from skin-to-skin contact. This contact makes the barriers between two people begin to dissolve and establish a certain complicity between them, increasing trust at the same time.

Affectionate and gentle caresses sensitize people. This leads them to be more receptive and therefore facilitates seduction. A survey found that contact between people who could potentially be a couple increases heart rate and arouses desire.

5. Improves performance.

In the United States, a study was carried out on the influence of touch on performance. They selected a group of volunteers and subdivided them. One of the subgroups received two massages a week, while the other group did not have this stimulus.

After a month, everyone took a math test. Those who received the massage scored better. Likewise, it has been proven that sports teams were more successful if their members hugged or clapped their hands when they achieved a partial victory.

6. Strengthens the bonds.

Physical contact is also closely related to the production of oxytocin in the brain. This substance increases the feeling of well-being and happiness. That's why in human relationships, and particularly in couples, touch plays an important role in feeling good about each other.

One of the signs that a couple is happy has to do with the amount of physical contact they have. The caresses and physical pampering help to nourish love and, thus, the bond gains more and more intensity and depth.

7. Increases persuasiveness.

To prove that touching others increases your persuasiveness, you can do a little experiment. Ask someone to lend you a pencil without making physical contact with that person.

Then do the same, but lightly touch your upper arm. Repeat several times and draw your own conclusions.

Touching others is a way to exert greater influence over them. This translates into greater persuasiveness. Again, this point is related to the opening provided by physical contact.

As you can see, the benefits of touch are many. Maybe it's time to stop using so many electronic devices to connect with people and regain that secret and deep value that exists in touch.