{"id":339980,"date":"2022-11-24T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-24T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/?p=339980"},"modified":"2022-11-24T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-11-24T13:00:00","slug":"humans-are-designed-to-stay-in-touch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/adam-eve\/human-body\/humans-are-designed-to-stay-in-touch","title":{"rendered":"Humans Are Designed to Stay in Touch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAre we doing this again?\u201d My patient asked as we stood awkwardly in an exam room with our right hands hanging in midair. Those hands would normally have met in a firm grasp, but not today.<br><br>I have about seven minutes in my general surgery office to convince someone that I can safely remove their gallbladder or repair their hernia. I frequently try to reassure them with a handshake or gentle pat on the shoulder. With COVID, however, any unnecessary contact has been discouraged. But that\u2019s not the way we\u2019re designed. Humans need touch as much as sound, vision, or even smell to connect deeply with each other. Without it, there\u2019s a lingering doubt about our intent, which is troubling when planning an invasive surgical procedure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Bonding through Touch Begins Early<\/strong><br>Long before people can express themselves with language or symbols, we interact with the world through touch. A baby\u2019s neural pathways form while fumbling over things. When they\u2019re stressed, they cry to be held for comfort. And with the gentle pressure and warmth of an embrace, they learn to regulate their emotions with their parent. If a parent is distracted or absent for long periods of time, neural connections fail to form. The broken bonds can lead to sensory processing problems later and even an increased risk of autism. From the beginning, we are fragile and utterly dependent on each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Touch is much more complicated than it seems. It\u2019s transmitted in two ways: discriminative touch and social touch. In discriminative touch, neural fibers work fast. Their sensors, scattered all over our bodies, give us and the objects around us a sense of position. They are super-helpful for avoiding an oncoming truck, for example. Social touch sensors are located in places like our fingertips or neck. They transmit through slower pathways called CT (C-tactile) fibers to the areas in our brain that create emotions. So whether we give or receive a gentle caress, CT fibers signal our brains to release oxytocin, which mediates pleasure and comfort. The oxytocin reward from that touch can be more powerful than the effects of a drug such as cocaine.<sup>1<\/sup> In this way, our brains feel the touch of the outside world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Humans experience almost all touch as a combination of both discriminative and social systems, much like a musical chord rather than a single note. The \u201ctouch harmonies\u201d take on their full meaning in the experience of a person-to-person interaction. The physical location, our expectations,\u2014be it a stranger or friend\u2014and the intent of the interaction set the stage. At the same time, we visually read the person\u2019s body language and hear the tone of their voice. It all comes together in fractions of a second. Our perception of touch can even be altered with something as simple as a facial expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>We All Need a Meaningful Touch<\/strong><br>I consider this scientific understanding of touch as I gaze over my mask in the exam room. I\u2019m protecting my patient by not touching him. My intent is for his good. But, does that make him feel unclean? He needs reassurance that he\u2019s going to heal. A reassurance that has dimmed during COVID. How can we recapture the beautiful harmonies that could be created?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Touch or the laying on of hands is seen frequently throughout the Bible. Touch bestows God\u2019s blessings or his favor. By touch, people in the Old Testament passed on a formal birthright, and today we lay hands on a missionary when sending them into the field. Jesus frequently used words to connect to people, but he also touched their ailing bodies. He rubbed dirt onto the eyes of a blind man and that man went home seeing. When a woman touched his garment, she was healed of a long-time affliction. And when Jesus addressed a crowd in Judea, parents sent their children to him to be touched and held and loved\u2014even though the disciples tried to brush them away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I stepped forward and grasped my patient\u2019s hand in both of mine. \u201cYep, we\u2019re doing this again,\u201d I said. We take risks when forming relationships, whether they\u2019re brief and professional or deeply committed. And touch is an important part of growing that relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I search for God\u2019s touch, I feel him in the crash of an ocean wave or the gentle sea foam bubbles that tickle my nose as I come up for air. I feel his tenderness in the breeze teasing across my skin or the plop of a raindrop when there\u2019s a storm coming. He is still intimately involved in his creation and undeniably still in touch with me and with all those who have placed their trust in him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Endnotes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" type=\"1\"><li>Carissa J. Cascio, David Moore, and Francis McGlone, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S1878929317301962?via%3Dihub\">Social Touch and Human Development<\/a>,\u201d <em>Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience <\/em>35 (February 2019): 5\u201311, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S1878929317301962?via%3Dihub\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.dcn.2018.04.009<\/a>.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Explores the vital role of touch in human connection, blending scientific insights and biblical examples to affirm God&#8217;s design for relationships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":588,"featured_media":340215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_person_authors":[402122],"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":"","_classifai_error":"","_classifai_text_to_speech_error":"","_classifai_text_to_speech_scheduled":false},"categories":[63965,64139],"tags":[70606,70571,70604],"discipline":[64114],"reading-level":[64149],"class_list":["post-339980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-body","category-belief-systems","tag-christian-faith","tag-human-nature","tag-christian-worldview","discipline-molecular-biology","reading-level-advanced-deep-dive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - 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Your DNA holds more information than the most advanced computer code. Your brain processes millions of signals per second, rewiring itself as you learn. And your body heals, regulates, and adapts in ways that science is still trying to grasp.\r\n\r\nBut what happens when we go against God\u2019s design? How do we make sense of physical suffering, brokenness, or bodies that don\u2019t function the way we expect? Let's examine both the beauty of God\u2019s design and what happens when it's disrupted.","parent":63960,"count":106,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0","cat_ID":63965,"category_count":106,"category_description":"Every human heartbeat, thought, and breath reveals intentional design by a loving Creator. Your DNA holds more information than the most advanced computer code. Your brain processes millions of signals per second, rewiring itself as you learn. And your body heals, regulates, and adapts in ways that science is still trying to grasp.\r\n\r\nBut what happens when we go against God\u2019s design? How do we make sense of physical suffering, brokenness, or bodies that don\u2019t function the way we expect? Let's examine both the beauty of God\u2019s design and what happens when it's disrupted.","cat_name":"Human Body","category_nicename":"human-body","category_parent":63960},{"term_id":64139,"name":"Belief Systems","slug":"belief-systems","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":64139,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Every culture has asked life\u2019s biggest questions: Where did we come from? What is our purpose? What happens after we die? Belief systems around the world attempt to answer these questions, shaping how people see reality, morality, and the divine.\r\n\r\nFrom Buddhism and Islam to New Age spirituality and atheism, each worldview presents a different picture of truth. But do all paths lead to the same destination? And how do their claims hold up against history, philosophy, and science?\r\n\r\nBy examining the beliefs of world religions\u2014and how they compare to Christianity\u2014we can better understand the search for truth and what sets the gospel apart.","parent":64009,"count":479,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0","cat_ID":64139,"category_count":479,"category_description":"Every culture has asked life\u2019s biggest questions: Where did we come from? What is our purpose? What happens after we die? Belief systems around the world attempt to answer these questions, shaping how people see reality, morality, and the divine.\r\n\r\nFrom Buddhism and Islam to New Age spirituality and atheism, each worldview presents a different picture of truth. But do all paths lead to the same destination? And how do their claims hold up against history, philosophy, and science?\r\n\r\nBy examining the beliefs of world religions\u2014and how they compare to Christianity\u2014we can better understand the search for truth and what sets the gospel apart.","cat_name":"Belief Systems","category_nicename":"belief-systems","category_parent":64009}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":70606,"name":"Christian Faith","slug":"christian-faith","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":70603,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":375,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":70571,"name":"Human Nature","slug":"human-nature","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":70568,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":29,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":70604,"name":"Christian Worldview","slug":"christian-worldview","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":70601,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":162,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339980"},{"taxonomy":"discipline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/discipline?post=339980"},{"taxonomy":"reading-level","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-level?post=339980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}