Lifestyler with Josie McKenlay: Senses and your health

Josie McKenlay 14:24 04/06/2015
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  • While it has many health benefits, the pleasure of being touched or touching is undeniable.

    Our senses can alert us to danger, but they can also enhance our life experiences and improve our health.

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    This week we look at our sense of touch and how this can promote feelings of wellbeing.

    Sense of Touch

    There is a spa in every hotel in the UAE. For some, a massage of some sort is a regular part of the week.

    While it has many health benefits, the pleasure of being touched or touching is undeniable.

    I remember many years ago, people were asked to take their dogs to old people’s homes as stroking these pets can lower your blood pressure, helps your body release a relaxation hormone, and cuts down on levels of stress hormones (unless you don’t like animals of course).

    The animal also enjoys being stroked. When my son was young, baby massage classes were very popular. A study at Miami University showed that massage therapy reduces pain in pregnant women and alleviates prenatal depression – in the women and their partners.

    Studies have also shown that autistic children who usually dislike being touched, loved being massaged by a parent or therapist.

    Tiffany Field, a leader in the field of touch, found that pre-term newborns who received just three 15-minute sessions of touch therapy each day for five-10 days gained 47 per cent more weight than premature infants who’d received standard medical treatment.

    Studies shown that autistic children love being massaged by a parent or therapist.

    Touch is the earliest sense to develop in the fetus. Many animals don’t develop their other senses for some time after birth, but they all have a heightened sense of touch.

    Primates spend as much as 20 per cent of their day grooming each other. Studies now show that touching Alzheimer’s patients can have huge effects on helping them to relax, make emotional connections with others, and reduce their symptoms of depression.

    Neurologist Shekar Raman, MD, in Richmond, Virginia explains: “A hug, pat on the back, and even a friendly handshake are processed by the reward center in the central nervous system, which is why they can have a powerful impact on the human psyche, making us feel happiness and joy.

    “And it doesn’t matter if you’re the toucher or touchee. The more you connect with others — on even the smallest physical level — the happier you’ll be.”

    Natural killer cells are the front line of the immune system, destroying cancer cells, viral cells and bacterial cells.

    In studies of women with breast cancer, cortisol levels tend to be high, but natural killer (NK) cells are down. In a study, women with breast cancer were given 30-minute massages three times a week for five weeks.

    At the end of the study, the women had lower depression and hostility levels and increased levels of serotonin, dopamine, NK cells and lymphocytes, which would suggest that their immune systems were stronger.

    A pat on the back, an arm around the shoulder, a hug or even a hand-shake can make all the difference to our mood in an uplifting, positive way and if we are happy, we will be healthier. So go ahead and share a little of that human touch.

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