Humans are tactile beings. From the moment of our birth and throughout our lives until death, touch plays an important role in our health. For massage therapists, it is very easy to see how the skin, as the largest organ of the body, reflects physical and emotional health. Looking back, we can all remember a time when hurt or distress has been “healed” by touch, such as Mom kissing a banged up knee, or when we’ve received a comforting hug from a family member or friend. Touch can also express joy and love, as well as the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, where touch can trigger fear and pain.

What role should touch play in our daily lives? It has been well researched and documented that positive touch, that being touch from someone you trust done with your consent and agreement, can affect us at a cellular and hormonal level. The release of endorphins makes us feel good, and actually contributes to not only our physical health, but also our emotional health as well. Much to our detriment, however, the inclusion of touch in our daily lives has taken a back seat to other priorities.

We live in a society where touching on a social level has become increasingly taboo. In a nutshell, we are touch deprived. A world-wide study done in the 1960′s noted the number of times pairs of people touched each other when out at a cafe. Peurto Rico was at the top of the list, with 180 times an hour; at the bottom of the list was Britain, at 0 times per hour (yes, that’s right,  ZERO). This would seem to indicate that a normal, healthy social gesture seems to have become degraded to something which is not appropriate and needs to be avoided. In our own culture we seem to be becoming more touched deprived; according to “The Touch Deficit” by Patti Wood, 15% of Canadians go for 3 or more days without touching another human being. Could this be a contributing factor to our soaring levels of depression and anxiety?

How might we change this unfortunate trend? In addition to changing other lifestyle factors, the inclusion of regular, positive touch may very well help turn the tide on our cultural downfall. Massage therapy has been extremely well researched, and we all know it can assist our function at a physical level, by relieving headaches, back pain and other common complaints. But did you realize that massage therapy also improves our function at an emotional level, contributing to decreased depression and anxiety, improved sense of well-being, and improved sleep?  The Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami Medical School has devoted itself since 1992 to the qualitative and quantitative research of how touch affects us at every level.

I would suggest that if you are feeling even a little (or a lot) anxious, that Massage Therapy may be able to help you. If you feel great, I would hazard a guess that you may feel even better by taking an hour out of your day and taking care of yourself. Think of it as a preventive therapy, and enjoy the power of touch.