Skin

Skin is our largest and most essential sense organ.  Skin is the external portion of the nervous system. Sensory nerves in the skin keep us informed about  

• temperature
• pain/ comfort  
• hunger, thirst, full belly
• off balance 
• types of touch - too much pressure, something's itchy, that touch feels relaxing. 

We could work, play and live without vision or hearing, or without being able to smell pizza. We could survive if we couldn't taste our food & beverage. But, we wouldn't survive long if we couldn't sense that the beverage was scalding and it kept burning us, or if we were unable to sense temperature changes that signal the need for less or more clothing, or if we couldn't feel the pain that alerted us to a wound, fracture, infection, etc.

Touch

Did you know that Touch - your first sense - developed when you were the size of a jelly bean?  (8 weeks old)

If you were squeezed through vaginal walls when you exited your womb-home, the touch of the birth canal on your skin was stimulating the organs that needed to function when your cord was cut.

It's really shocking for a newborn’s immature nervous system to slide from the protected warmth of the womb into gloved hands in a chilly room in a world governed by gravity!

Ideally, the newborn is immediately placed on its mother where skin-to-skin contact re-connects them. This contact releases "the love hormone", oxytocin, that 

• calms baby
• supports bonding
• stimulates birthing functions in the mother
• reduces the incidence of postpartum depression

All facilitated by touch and the skin's sensory receptors!

At birth - and over time

• touch supports communication between infant and caregivers 
• touch triggers oxytocin release to increase an infant's responsiveness to its caregivers  
• responsiveness increases the infant's potential to thrive.  Why? Caregivers are more likely to bond with this peeing, pooping, spitting up, wakeful, vulnerable baby when the infant rewards caregivers with smiles & coos.  

Skin and Touch

Skin and nerves develop from the same embryonic tissue, so throughout life, touch influences all the functions governed by nervous system.

For instance, regular caring touch stimulates release of the child's Growth Hormone to support healthy growth and development. Not only does a caregiver’s embodied touch convey caring, it helps infants learn to distinguish between it's body, other people, and objects, and helps it learn to self-regulate.

Embodied is an operative word.  If, for whatever reasons, the caregiver is “touching while distracted”, the infant will sense “disconnection” - often a scary experience for an infant so dependent on caregivers. 

Caveat: This describes ideal newborn / caregiver experiences. 

The most essential aspect of caring touch is being present - embodied.

Safer, more satisfying touch. The effects of early childhood touch deprivation or abusive touch may be gradually reversed through the experience of embodied touch when

• giver and receiver set the intention to focus on the sensations of touch where they come in contact with each other
• the giver is responsive to the receiver's feedback about quality of touch, pressure, location, etc.   

You can provide embodied touch for yourself, too:

• when you shampoo your hair
• when you bathe
• when you give yourself a massage

During COVID, many people mourn the loss of touch and hugs.  I find that frequent self-massage is essential for my well-being because it enhances my capacity to be grounded and embodied.

There are lots of self massage demonstrations on line. The form you choose is less important than the message of caring that your send to yourself through your touch.