30 Dec Implications of Bodywork, SmartPhone Smarts, Handwashing
The Implications of Bodywork
Human Touch Has Powerful Results
By Cathy Ulrich
Whether in giving or receiving, touch is as essential to human survival as is food. Infants deprived of touch, even when they are getting adequate nutrition, will fail to thrive. Elders isolated by loss of partners and friends become depressed not only because of the absence of social interaction, but also because of the simple loss of physical contact.
We calm our pets by stroking them, we greet each other with a hug or a handshake, and we soothe our children by holding them. No other form of connection is as powerful and universal as touch. Taking a look at how this sensation is connected to the brain provides insight into the significance of bodywork.
Skin and the Brain
The adult human lives inside an envelope of about 18 square feet of skin. Every inch houses thousands of nerve endings and various kinds of sensory receptors, all working to tell the brain about its surroundings. The cold of an ice cube, the softness of a cat’s fur, a warm breeze, the caress of a loved one–all of these feelings are possible because of our skin. Our skin tells us about our environment and ourselves. When we touch something with our fingers, we’re not only sensing the object, we’re also feeling our own skin, our own boundaries.
In the first few days of an embryo’s life, the cells that eventually become a fully formed baby divide into three layers. The brain and skin come from the same layer, and they develop together, not only before birth, but well into the first year of life. When a baby is held, cuddled, and breast-fed, she’s getting crucial stimulation to build neural connections between her skin and her brain that will ultimately last her entire lifetime.
Study after study has shown that touch is not only important for development, but is crucial to survival. James H.M. Knox of Johns Hopkins Hospital reported in 1915 that babies left in orphanages and given proper nutrition died at a rate of about 90 percent. Other studies of the same era confirmed…To read the “rest of the story”, please click here Winter2018Newsletter