The benefits of physical touch

Our skin is often the starting point for how we perceive situations and interact with one another. Researchers have found that people can detect certain emotions, like love, anger, gratitude and disgust, from touch. Regular positive touch has been shown to reduce aggression and increase pro-social behavior. It also helps us form and maintain emotional bonds in relationships.

Touch, or tactile communication, can help us build trust and cooperation. One study even found that professional basketball players and teams who had more physical interaction early in the season, like high fives and team huddles, performed better in later games.

Hugging is a sign of support that can reduce stress. They can also help deter inner turmoil after conflict. One study showed that people who received a hug on a day when a conflict had taken place were found to be in better moods afterwards. Hugs have also been shown to reduce the likelihood of catching a common cold, due to their stress-buffering properties.

Warm contact between partners, like holding hands or cuddling, can contribute to better cardiovascular health and can lower one's reactivity to stress. This is because that positive physical sign of support slows your heart rate, decreases the stress hormone cortisol and lowers your blood pressure. Couples can even sync their heart rates and brain waves just by touching.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center found that full-body massage relieved pain and increased mobility in patients with arthritis in their knees. Therapeutic touch has also been shown to decrease pain and increase the quality of life for fibromyalgia patients. Not just those getting a massage see benefits, either: Giving a massage also offers positive improvements to personal well-being.

Massage has also led to weight gain in preterm babies by engaging part of their nervous system. This improves digestion and releases hormones required for absorbing food. Skin-to-skin touch helps release oxytocin, the hormone related to mother-infant attachment, and decreases cortisol, the stress hormone. It may also have a pain-relieving effect for babies undergoing minor medical procedures.

You don't need another person to receive the benefits of touch, though. Self-massage can have some of the same effects of regular massage. The health benefits are stronger when more pressure is applied, as opposed to a lighter touch. Yoga and other forms of exercise, with physical contact between your body and the ground (or weights), can produce similar stress-relieving effects, too.

Support in the form of holding a partner's hand when they're experiencing physical pain may be beneficial for both the recipient and the giver. Pain is actually diminished for the affected partner when touched. This contact can also help people with low self-esteem to eliminate self doubt.

Today, work is being done to create sensory-enabled prosthetics so that amputees can get the same health benefits from touch. Psychological well-being has been shown to increase for those who used such prosthetics. Other researchers are also working on developing electronic skin technology that can feel hard surfaces, soft fabrics or sensations like heat.