TOUCH ME - BABY! Or, the importance of human contact in infant development.
So I was reading about a study on orphanages where the babies were suffering from a lack of loving touch, and some would actually die from lack of affection. Additionally, their higher functioning capability, their IQ, and even the prevalence of mental and behavioral issues were all affected by the lack of contact. Literally these babies were dying from lack of loving physical touch. Without these loving gestures, skin contact and the physical cuddling of these babies, even though living in a sterile environment, appropriate nutrition and technically correct care, the infants would die.
The power of human touch cannot be overestimated. In humans, the loving touch between people aids in physical and emotional development, lessens pain, improves pulmonary functioning, lowers blood pressure, regulates glucose levels, and aids in immune support. For infants, it aids in proper physical growth, develops mental functioning, and regular touch promotes superior motor development.
As we age, the amount of touching that we receive significantly decreases. We have societal inhibitions, we have a culture wherein touching others becomes prohibited, and we, as a whole, are suffering from it. According to what I've read, the amount of touching we receive from childhood to our teen years is roughly halved, and decreases even more sharply into adulthood. But our need for this comforting human contact does not diminish. From babies to elders, those who receive regular healthy human skin-to-skin contact are happier, better adjusted, less prone to illness, infection or even to aggression or violence. Establishing their worldview as babies through the caring contact leads to more confidence, happier and healthier humans.
Even with so many benefits to human touch and physical interaction, we have created a society wherein touch is taboo as it is primarily relegated to the realm of the sensual. But with touch reducing stress hormones, promoting good social behaviors, and increasing self-esteem, the benefits are clearly defined.
As a technological society, we are touch-deprived. Maybe even touch-starved. With the limitations by our culture, inter-personal relationships, and social norms, we have relegated touch to those between intimate couples, handshakes in business situations, parent-to-child, or very few other acceptable situations between very close friends, such as a hug at meeting or departing. Even in a modern (more) homosexually-accepting culture, touch between two hetero males is nearly forbidden, and certainly not widely accepted. The random high-five, a punch on the shoulder, or mock-aggression (or in some cases, real aggression) is the typical male-to-male interaction, with very few exceptions. While the incidence of touch varies widely between cultures, overall most Americans maintain a wide berth between themselves and others.Where touch between people has become so widely socially unacceptable, our general population at large is suffering a lack of human contact.
Oddly enough, I am a person who does not particularly like to be touched. Especially by people that I don't know. The whole social phenomenon where waitresses earn larger and better tips by casually touching a customer in a "safe" place, such as a shoulder, does not work for me. I will often go out of my way to avoid accidental touch with strangers.
However, with the people that I like and am close to, then touch is frequent and loving. But it takes time for people to "earn" this level of contact. Our modern socially-enforced barriers to casual touch work fairly well for people like me that would prefer not to have to be in contact with anyone outside of my immediate social circle.
With this said, in situations where I anticipate being touched: booking a massage, a business meeting where introductions will be made and hands shaken, or amongst a crowd, where as much as I might personally dislike it, the touch is infrequent and involuntary (one would hope, anyway!) it is permissible. I'm not so touch-phobic that I avoid social situations. And though I understand the need for physical affection, the casual touching by people that I would not normally allow into my "personal space bubble" is what I dislike. This is a circumstance outside of my control, however. Though I love the affectionate hugs of my family and close friends, and of course, contact with my husband, the social taboo of random touch is strong otherwise.
But where does this social restriction begin? When we are infants, whether animal or human, we have an incontrovertible need to be touched. Babies need to be nurtured, held, coddled, shown affection. The runts of the animal kingdom often die - not only because they are smaller and already seemingly weaker and more frail than their litter mates, but also because this lack of nurturing from the mother. Since the young are programmed to select a specific teat and the process of nursing will encourage the mother to groom, lick and nuzzle the strongest young. Without the stimulation of licking and nuzzling from the mother, growth hormones are not activated. Consequently, the "failure to thrive" response and the runts will die off.
The health benefits of massage have been clearly documented, and the studies with newborn monkeys, when given the choice between a wire-mesh "mother" with a bottle to provide nourishment and a terry-cloth "mother" would spend their time clinging to the tactile "mother" figure, even when the actual nourishment came from the wire figure. So is touch, that tactile contact with another, even more biologically programmed into us than even the drive for sustenance?
In human infants, evolutionary-wise, humans are born before we are physically competent or remotely capable. Because of our upright bi-pedal posture, our relatively small pelvis and large craniums, humans would be unable to be born later in our gestation, so we're born not fully developed. We are unable to see clearly, to communicate effectively or move in any realistic manner. When compared to say, a newborn foal, which is up and capable of running within an hour or so of birth, humans are painfully slow at developing. Humans are helplessly slow and immobile for nearly a year before we are even remotely capable of independent movement.
So for a baby, the primary method of gathering information about its environment is through touch. And a surprising amount of the information it gathers is through its mouth. With any new toy, object it encounters, food or not, a baby puts it into its mouth. Why? Not because of taste as the primary motivating factor, but instead touch. The sensory input from the lips and tongue send a message to the infant brain giving it information about what it has in front of it.
As we can see, the sensation of skin being massaged stimulates the young, leading better-adjusted, more capable, and more highly mental and physical development. Lower anxiety, improved self-esteem, and lower incidences of depression occur in those who have regular contact. So, with your friend, your neighbor, your kids, even your dog.... ask for a hug. Sure, it may be momentarily awkward, but odds are, they need it just as much (or even more) than you!
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