Touch Therapy

We all know the importance of being touched. Numerous scientific studies have verified what we instinctively know.

I have tried self massage - but nothing beats being massaged by some else. My personal experience is that I prefer my husbands massage to a professional massage.

I come from a family and a church which frequently hugs and kisses. Now that I am so far from them, I really miss them and that type of contact. I find myself holding back because I don' want to offend people or step in their person space. But I wonder if I am not robbing them and myself something that is important. Human touch - a sense of belonging, knowing, loving........

An article from Heal South emphasises this:

" Children and adolescents, who have been hospitalised for psychiatric problems, show remarkable reductions in their anxiety levels and demonstrate positive changes in their attitude when they receive a brief daily back rub.

In other studies, the arteries of rabbits fed a high-cholesterol diet and petted regularly had 60% fewer blockages than those of un-petted, but similarly fed rabbits. Rats, handled for 15 minutes a day during the first three weeks of their lives, showed dramatically less brain cell deterioration and memory loss as they grew old, compared with non-handled rats.

Despite all of these reasons to reach out and touch someone, we still find it difficult and often withdraw, reserving our touch for a brisk handshake or an occasional farewell embrace.

Is it possible that many of the woes of the world are simply a desperate cry for a reassuring, nurturing touch?

Could a simple hug a day keep the threat of teen pregnancy and STD’s away?"