No other sense puts us in direct contact with another human being like touch, in fact, people are pure touch: the skin covers our whole body and hand, main seat of touch function, is a complex purpose that separates us definitively. of the other members of the animal kingdom.
It is no exaggeration to say that the broad language of touch is one of the decisive factors that places us in the human universe. It is well known and often cited that a baby without clothes even puts his life at risk.
- Shortly after World War II.
- A spontaneous case caught the attention of investigators.
- There were two state orphanages.
- And it was noted that in one of them children were larger in size and weight than the other.
- The situation was strange.
- Since both institutions belonged to the same program.
During the investigation, it was found that the difference was due to the person who was responsible for each of them, while Ms. Grun played and cared for the children in her care, Ms. Schwarz maintained a distant relationship with the little ones. who grew up in his institution.
Fortunately, the two women were transferred and eventually each ran the orphanage that was previously run by the other, then what everyone thought was confirmed: the children who previously had a very favorable growth rate began to lose weight and height. they have grown and gained weight.
The University of Miami also reported a study showing similar findings, where premature babies were observed to stop their development while in incubators, so they offered to take them out for fifteen minutes, three times a day, to caress them. The result was extraordinary. Before long, they reached a normal level of maturity and were able to leave a week before the other unteated children.
Modern mothers often do not have enough time to share with their babies, for this reason, there is an area of research that begins to question whether the exponential growth of youth violence may be directly related to this lack of contact between mother and child. in the early stages of life.
In the United Kingdom, research has been carried out on this subject. The study was conducted by Dr. Penelope Leach and examined the different forms of care provided to children under the age of five and their effects on development.
Experts tested the saliva of babies who received no response when they burst into tears. They then detected a strong presence of cortisol in the bodies of these children. Cortisol is a hormone produced by stress.
This substance has a very negative effect when acting on a developing brain, it is also able to alter the reactivity of the immune system, so it was concluded that these children were more likely to get sick.
Stress has also been found to not only stem from threatening stimuli, but also from gaps or tensions that create unmet emotional needs, frustration that could become a seed of latent or expressed aggressions.
Then science confirms something that we all intuitively have in one way or another. Emotional contact through touch makes us stronger and better. This does not apply only to infants; although the impact of caresses on them is even greater, the need for physical contact continues throughout life, which has exactly the same effect as on children.