As you know, I am very interested in learning about natural ways to increase the happy mood transmitters, or "happy hormones" in our brain. I am intrigued at just how much information is out there and things that I know have helped me are proven to help with depression! One of those things is physical touch. On my worst days I would often ask my girls to straighten my hair for me using a heating iron. It wasn't that I wanted my hair to look nice, I was in much too sad a mood to worry about that! but the physical touch was what I needed. It is hard to explain but I noticed early on that when someone held my hand (a doctor used to do that with me each time he came to talk to me!) or stroked my hair, touched my back......whatever! the depression seemed to be lost in the moment. Physical touch is very important and that is why I am a strong advocate of methods such as massage and aromatherapy in dealing with depression. I am actually looking in to doing cert four in remedial massage at TAFE next year because I feel so strongly that this is a tool that God can use me with to help others. I am also reminded of the scripture where we are told to "lay hands on the sick" and I personally believe that there is much much more implicated in these words than merely laying hands and praying. I believe the physical action of laying hands on someone brings another level of healing aside from the one that we commonly think about.

Articles

A hug a day keeps the doctor away
Laura Barton | July 31, 2007

"EVERYBODY NEEDS TOUCH, especially the elderly," says Beata Aleksandrowicz. "Very often they are alone, their partners have gone or have died or they're sick, and nobody is touching them." Aleksandrowicz, a massage therapist, is speaking about a project she launched last month that saw therapists across England give free hand massages to elderly people in nursing homes. The response was heartening. "I had reactions such as, 'Oh, I had no idea that I need touch so much' or 'Oh, it's like I'm in fairyland!' "

Bertrand Russell once wrote: "Not only our geometry and our physics, but our whole conception of what exists outside us is based upon the sense of touch." But our experience of touch is dwindling. Increasingly we live alone, have virtual friends, shy away from any kind of physical contact with strangers for fear it might be unhygienic or inappropriate or could become violent.

The effects of not touching can prove detrimental to our wellbeing, both as individuals and as a society. "When you touch or are touched, you get the feeling of being connected with yourself and with others," Aleksandrowicz says, placing one hand on my arm. "When I touch you, you feel my touch - so by my touch you feel that you exist and you can connect with me. It is a feeling of being important, of being taken care of."

A 1997 study into the amount of touching and aggression among adolescents looked at the behaviour of 40 teenagers in McDonald's outlets in Paris and Miami. It found American adolescents spent considerably less time stroking, kissing, hugging and leaning against their peers than their French counterparts did.
Interestingly, the Americans showed more self-touching, such as playing with rings on their fingers, wringing their hands, twirling hair, wrapping arms around themselves, cracking knuckles, biting their lips, and also behaviour that was more aggressive, verbally and physically, towards their peers.

These findings are worrying, particularly because research suggests an absence of touching and physical interaction during adolescence may result in violent behaviour in later life. Touch deprivation appears to lead to a depletion in norepinephrine and serotonin, which, with dop-amine, are neurotransmitters affecting mood. When levels of norepinephrine and serotonin fall, levels of dopamine are left uninhibited, leading to the impulsive, often aggressive, behaviour associated with high levels of dopamine. (Research also suggests that levels of norepinephrine and serotonin may be increased through touch.)

Even though we're isolating ourselves from it, humans crave physical touch. It is one of the reasons people keep pets, Aleksandrowicz believes. "Because they can touch them, they can exchange warmth with them."