THE IMPORTANCE OF SKIN-TO-SKIN CONTACT

Skin-To-Skin Contact is Needed for Health!

Everyone loves to be touched. It is a proven fact that touch is

important, and any type of touch from a handshake to a huge hug to a massage from a therapist, touch is extremely important to everyone and their bodies, as well.


Skin to skin contact can be a great way to improve your health and wellness. This can include hugs, massage, or even hand holding. According to Women's Health, the touch between two people releases both serotonin and dopamine. Both of which are instrumental in overall happiness and emotional well-being within the body. It also helps to make you feel less stressed and anxious. Studies have shown that another way skin to skin helps with health and wellness is by lowering blood pressure and heart rate and by boosting your immune system, and by giving you pain relief, according to NPR.

Babies and skin to skin contact

From the time a baby exits the womb, he or she craves and needs to be touched. Studies have shown that allowing the baby to immediately have uninterrupted skin to skin contact with mom can help to stabilize their respiration and oxygenation, increase their glucose levels, warm the infant, reduce stress hormones, regulate blood pressure, decrease crying, and increase the quiet alert state,

according to MedScape. Without skin to skin contact, the baby's immune system can suffer and make them susceptible to illness because of the high levels of stress hormones that are release when a baby feels stressed and vulnerable due to lack of touch, affection, and love. Allowing an infant to have skin to skin contact with mom immediately after birth also allows for a stronger bond and connection between mom and baby and helps to calm the mom after childbirth.

Adults need to be touched too...
Although it is not thought of often, physical contact is a basic necessity for living. Many think of it as not a big deal, but for many people, they can go days without any direct skin to skin contact. According to Psychology Today, three out of every four adults agree with the statement "Americans suffer from skin hunger." Skin hunger is the feeling of loneliness or the lack of physical affection that one requires. Many people find themselves longing and craving for skin to skin contact that they just to not be able to get or to get enough of.

Massage is a great option for those requiring a fix of being touched. Anyone who has regular massages can tell you if you’re feeling stressed and anxious a massage will soon calm you down. Although many people require massage therapy for many other physiological reasons, like chronic back pain or migraines, massage therapy for the contact is common, as well. Relaxation can be found through the contact that you get from your massage therapist.
Being massaged makes your muscles un-clench if you’re all bunched up. If your blood pressure is high, it can actually drop after a massage and cortisol levels (a stress hormone) will drop. Because you’re nice and relaxed, your body has the breathing space to start recharging your batteries so that you’ll feel much better afterwards.

Recent research backs this up; the immune function of healthy adults who got either a 45-minute Swedish massage or 45 minutes of lighter touch were measured and the group who enjoyed a massage were found to have significantly higher numbers of white blood cells - including the cells which help the body fight viruses. So can a massage stop you catching a cold? The scientists stopped short of saying so, but it does seem that regular skin to skin contact through massage could play a part in keeping your immune system healthy and fighting off bugs.

The evidence is mounting up that a massage helps you feel good, improved your overall well being and boosts your immune system. Why not book one today?

Contact us at: 619-917-4675 OR  massagelamesa@gmail.com 

Book now by clicking HERE.