Covid-19 and Touch Starvation by Rhythm Saluja

COVID-19 AND TOUCH STARVATION

s i x

f e e t

a p a r t

design thesis by

RHYTHM SALUJA

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

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“This is what it means to be loved.. When someone wants to touch you, to be tender...” - Banana Yoshimoto, The Lake

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

Rhythm Saluja Email : rhythmsaluja2403@gmail.com Contact no. : 8375054604

COPYRIGHT ©2021 RHYTHM SALUJA. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronical or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of Rhythm Saluja.

INTRO DUCTION

As the famous saying goes that research is me-search, a search for what bothers one, and what one needs answers to, or to at least understand the problem better. As a designer I also feel like some insight and some personal connection to the object of our study makes us not only more empathetic, but also more solution-oriented, which is what this is about. Covid-19 and the deadly pandemic has not only ruined lives by taking them, but also by hugely disturbing them, in more ways possible than we could think of initially. One such problem that not a lot of people seem to be talking about is touch starvation or touch deprivation, which is quite self explanatory.

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

Touch, despite being so omnipresent as a sensory organ is often ignored and not considered a necessity for survival, or at least healthy survival despite what research has claimed time and again. In the current societal conditions, given how far and liberated the times have gotten, touch and the need for it for well-being is deeply deeply ignored, to the point that in certain societies and cultures it is still shameful and repulsive to even think of how importance touch is for you- it is a need that is buried deep down, almost like a taboo.

In times like these where we have to distance ourselves from our loved ones, it’s important to understand and take into consideration what each one of us is going through and possibly find ways to deal with it better for the time being, it’s important to remember- this too shall pass.

INTRODUCTION

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

“It is no small thing to feel the warmth of the sun on your skin.” -Marty Rubin

CONTENTS Covid-19and Touch Starvation Covid-19 andTouch TouchStarvation Starvation Covid-19

ABSTRACT

3 5

TOUCH

THE SKIN WE WEAR

SKIN TO SKIN

COVID-19 & THE LACK OF TOUCH

Table of Contents

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

ABST RACT

Touch is the most overlooked sense we have and own. Unlike our sight or the hearing ability where we can just shut our eyes and our ears, this is not a sensory organ we can ‘turn off’. It is omnipresent. Whether you’re sitting or standing or laying beside the love of your life, hell, even when you’re sleeping, you’re in contact with something or the other, you’re always touching something or someone. Your skin is constantly making contact with all the things you feel- a hot relaxing shower, a cold winter evening, you name it. And yet, the importance of this wonder we call skin and the sense of touch is something we often fail to register. It is now, during the Covid-19 outbreak that amidst other things that have caused huge stress amongst people, they’re also touch deprived, in a state of skin hunger (lack of skin to skin contact with another). Research confirms that touch is vital for human beings. Not only is it a part of being human, it is humanhuman- the need to be held. Touch is a language on its own.

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

15 British Evolutionary Psychologist and professor Robin Dunbar says this can be traced back to monkey ancestry. Apes used to rub each other’s fur for building bonding, the human species substituted that with cuddles and stroking and other loving touch. It releases ‘happy hormones’ such as oxytocin and serotonin, and boosts immunity and health, while lowering down blood-pressure and cortisol levels.Multiple researches have shown how important touch is for humans and animals at their growing stage and throughout life, how the lack of touch can cause adverse effects on children and adults, how a pat on the back or even a little non-sexual reassuring touch has resulted in positive outcomes in studies and experiments on potential strangers; talking about being touch deprived in such a tough time is vital.

“I think there’s something about going out and seeing people being afraid of each other and afraid of each other’s bodies. Touch is becoming something equated with sickness and death, and that scares me deeply,” playwright Eve Ensler says. This goes back to the 1980s when HIV and AIDS was on the rise and people were afraid of touching and sexual intimacy was off the table. “[AIDS] definitely changed our relationship to sex and to freedom. Drastically. I so don’t want COVID-19 to do this to our relationship to touch. That would be a huge loss for human beings,” she said. The lack of touch can lead to emotional disturbances, even lead to lessened intellectual ability, growth, reduction in sexual interest and a bad immune system which is pretty ironic considering the times we live in, and this is only scratching the surface because touch deprivation can cause a huge deal of negative issues both physically and physiologically.

ABSTRACT

“Somehow, you grow lonelier than the world that contains you. That is why you sowant to be touched.” — C.X. Hua, from “The World,” published in The Adroit Journal

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

Your skin doesn't separate you from the world; it's a bridge through which the external world flows into you, and you flow into it. - Alan Watt The skin we wear is fascinating, fascinating isn’t it? With the receptors therein, it’s the largest sense organ we have- each one of us. It is our primary makeup. By the power of touch, our skin is what connects us to the external world- both physically and socially. Our skin is our makeup, it holds our internal reality together, in form, as a container. Being one of our first senses to be developed not even as human beings in the world but as embryos, it’s safe to say we begin where touch begins.

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

“The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground.” An adult is said to have nearly 2 square meters of skin which accounts for about 18% of our body weight. Our skin is mapped with nerve cells distributed unevenly throughout. An itch, pain, warmth, cold, touch- the receptors within the skin carry a message to the spinal cord which in turn sends it to the brain. Similarly, the receptors in the skin send a message to the brain about whatever contact is being made with the skin from an external source- another human being.

Our skin is the one organ that encompasses all others. It’s what we wear. The multitudes of colours, textures, toughness, softness and elasticity. Through it we feel connection, sexual and otherwisea firm handshake, a high-five, a long hug, hand holding, a gentle brush on the shoulder, caressing, kissing, having sex. Not only human touch, but every other thing that exists- whether it bears life or doesn’t is made familiar to us by our skin, we know the world and all the beautiful and tragic sensations of the world through it, because of it.

THE SKIN WE WEAR

U TO CH 20

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

“Everyone deserves that opportunity to be wrapped in that same sensation of knowing that they know, deep down where their toenails grow, that they are truly loved, that they are truly lovable, and beyond doubt, touchable.”

TOUCH TOUCH

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Touch comes before sight, before speech. It is the first language, and the last, and it always tells the truth. – Margaret Atwood

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

You wake up in the morning, get out of bed (after a few snoozes), touch your face, open your blinds, feel the sweet morning sunlight on your face, your hair dancing around carelessly, you pat your dog and finally turn off the alarm clock. Then you go on with your morning routine. So, within minutes of waking up you’ve done so much, you’ve felt a lot of things without having to think about this ‘routine’ or sense of touch. While our other four senses are in different parts of the body, our sense of touch is all over.This is because the bottom layer of our skin called the Dermis is packed with 5 million tiny nerve endings. This is the system that is responsible for your connection with the external world. It literally connects you with your surroundings. This is your communication with elements including inanimate objects, your relationship with them.

TOUCH

24 When our skin touches someone or something the information is received by these receptors and is then sent to the brain. This accounts for all sorts and kinds of touch.It conveys feelings and emotions. It conveys affection. And this affectionate touch is important for development. Touch releases endorphins which are our bodies’ natural painkillers. There are tons of touch therapies available for the same reason. As babies that come into the world and are 100% dependent on their caregivers to hold them, feed them, teach them, most of their lives are shaped by the first few years of our existence.

r e v e n e W t u o w o gr of the need to be d e h c u o t

The relationship between a child and their parent and the presence of affectionate touch leads to a happier and healthier life for the child, both physically and mentally. The more physical and emotional affection a kid gets, the happier they will be, these hugs and embraces are all embedded in our nervous system and are imprinted in us at a cellular level. We never grow out of the need to be touched. Couples also know how important romantic touch is in a relationship. Studies have shown that women that received more hugs and affection from their partner were healthier, had lower blood pressure and a better immunity system. A little touch goes a long way.

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

TOUCH TOUCH

“You know the reason The Beatles made it so big?...’

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

“You know the reason The Beatles made it so big?...’I Wanna Hold Your Hand.’ First single. F*****g brilliant. Perhaps the most I Wanna Hold Your Hand.’ First single. F*****g brilliant. Perhaps the most f*****g brilliant song ever written. Because they nailed it. That’s what everyone wants. Not 24/7 hot wet sex. Not a marriage that lasts a hundred years. Not a Porsche...or a million-dollar crib. No. They wanna hold your hand. They have such a feeling that they can’t hide. Every single successful song of the past fifty years can be traced back to ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand.’ And every single successful love story has those unbearable and unbearably exciting moments of hand-holding.”

- David Levithan, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist

TOUCH

SKIN TO SKIN

Skin is the most important organ in t differentiate warmth, cold, pain and touch. A touch, a kiss and are transmitted to the brain by millions of nerve endings of th electricity of love (daSilva, 1984). Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

29 We’re social creatures. It’s how we’re built since the beginning of time. Positive interactions make us happy and being isolated’ makes us feel bad, stressful. There’s an evolutionary reason for that. The need for community was necessary for survival in the old times when there were repeatedly threats to man’s well-being. We’ve come a long way from that, and we might not need the community in the same way, but we’re built to be social. To still have emotional and physical contact with people on a day-to-day basis, and our brains reward us when we do that. This from Vice magazine in 2016: “Scientists began investigating skin hunger shortly after the Second World War. In controversial experiments run by American psychologist Harry Harlow, infant rhesus macaques were separated from their birth mothers and given the option of two inanimate surrogates: one made out of wire and wood, and another covered in cloth. The baby monkeys overwhelmingly favored the embrace of the cloth surrogate, even when the wire mother was the only surrogate that held a bottle of milk. From this, Harlow deduced infant macaques needed more than nourishment from their mothers to stay alive. He termed it “contact comfort.”

he sense of touch. Through the skin we d an embrace causes friction to produce electric currents which he skin. On our skin are produced major electrical storms in the

SKIN TO SKIN

There is science behind the

An area in the brain becomes highly activated when engaged in touch- se orbital frontal cortex and it’s the same region that responds to pleasant s how our brain makes sense of touch. Our brain likes touch.

“A soft touch on the arm makes the orbital frontal cortex light up, just like powerful rewarding stimulus -- just like your chocolate that you find in you for trust and connection.Our brains release oxytocin, nicknamed as “the c

It’s called the feel-good hormone and is released while cuddling, breast feel-good hormones like serotonin and endorphins are released which m hormone.

Oxytocin is produced by the hypothalamus and released by the pituitary g describe as warm fuzzies. It’s our brain’s reward to us. This slows your hea feel calmer, generous, grateful, and soothed. Not only that, it facilitates a

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

exual or non-sexual, Hertenstein says. This region is called the smells and chocolate; amusing, isn’t it? How little we know about

tfeeding, and even after orgasm. In the release of oxytocin, other make us feel more empathetic, happy and trusting. It’s the bonding

gland when we’re physically affectionate, producing what some art and lowers your blood pressure, reducing stress and making you a better interpersonal relationship for the next interaction.

SKIN TO SKIN

There is science behind the X’s and O’s.

e those other rewarding stimuli,” Hertenstein says. “So, touch is a very ur cupboard at home.” Upon this, the brain releases oxytocin that makes cuddle hormone” when we’re touched.

When we think about touch we think about the immediate sharp feeling released by it and how it makes us feel but the C tactile nerve has been an important area of study amongst researches. This touch hungry nerve is the nerve that responds to gentle stroking and caressing and it sends that information to the brain slower than the counterpart nerve. “The effects of touch are physiological, bioelectrical and biochemical,” agrees Tiffany Field, founder of the Touch Research Institute at Miami Medical School.

Covid-19 Covid-19 and and Touch Touch Starvation Starvation

Are we to believe the skin has a mind of its own if it determines so much of our business, so much of what we become and don’t become? There have been multiple studies that have proven the effects of touch in animals and human beings. Mammals are wired a certain way. Children that are touched more (depending on certain cultures and/or families) tend to be less aggressive in general. Studies have shown that animal babies and human babies both tended to be more social and out-going and less anxious in their adult lives when they’ve received enough caring and nurturing touch in their lives. If touching is such a powerful force in our lives and has so many benefits emotionally and physically, the lack of it can also be just as painful and cruel, cue skin hunger/touch deprivation.

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

“When we feel alone, when we lack the ability to interact with people in familiar and comforting ways, we feel vulnerable, and we feel under threat and under attack,” Floyd said. We become “hyper-vigilant” as a consequence which disrupts our sleep, elevates our general stress, and takes a toll on our immune system. “Especially for people who felt lonely anyway, then to go through self-isolation and the threat of the virus itself, and then to go through all the stress and associated with racial tensions, not to mention stress and threat that people are feeling financially,” Floyd said, the added consequences of not touching only makes things worse.

COVID-19 AND LACK OF TOUCH

The consequences of touch deprivation are stark. “When you’re not touched, there’s no overt lockdown of the system, but the role of the C-tactile afferent has far more long-term effects on our physical and mental wellbeing,” says McGlone. “Physical touch moderates our stress and helps us feel content. Going without it may well impact a person’s resilience to stress.

Covid-19 and and Touch Touch Starvation Covid-19 Starvation

37 Since the beginning of time, this is probably the first time in evolution that we’re experiencing lack of touch in masses even if we can’t quite pin down what’s wrong- most of us know something is a little off, especially the folks that have been living alone during this hard time. We’re more technologically connected than ever and the number of Whatsapp video and voice calls has almost doubled, while there has been a spike in apps like Skype, House Party, Google Meets and Hangouts. Despite all this this “something-off” stays.

Video calls felt sadder because of the helplessness, ‘I see you, I hear you, but you’re not here, I can’t feel you, or hold you, and for now I guess I have to live with that.’ It’s the human touch we miss. If you catch yourself feeling “all I need is a cuddle” this is your sensory nerve’s cry for help, just like when you’re hungry and the message travels to your brain and it tells you to eat, to take action, except here, we can’t really do that.

COVID-19 AND AND LACK LACK OF OF TOUCH TOUCH COVID-19

To make up for the skin hunger people might find themselves over indulging in other harmful behaviours, in trying to fill a void they might find themselves doing something obsessively

such as eating too much fast food, binge watching, sleeping more than usual and taking depression naps.

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

We sometimes make non-optimal decisions because that need for touch is more primal,” Dr Lyons said.

“It is literally more fundamental than where decisions are made in our brain, which is more an evolved and much later portion of our brain to develop then that sense of bonding and connection.”

COVID-19 AND LACK OF TOUCH

what Dr Lyons said when you

find yourself eating a lot or doing something obsessively, step back and ask yourself ‘what am I really hungry for?’

“Because I can eat through my feelings, or I can eatreally through this craving or this need for touch, this need for contact, this need for hungry connection and I can try to fill that void or that hunger with something else.

for?

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

“But that hunger will just keep coming back because this is a biological wiring and need that is inherent in all human beings.” COVID-19 AND LACK OF TOUCH

CITATIONS

L. Blanton, S. A STUDY OF SKIN AS TACTILE CONNECTION IN HUMAN SEXUALITY: SENSE OF TOUCH VIA OUR LARGEST SEX ORGAN: SKIN. THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF CLINICAL SEXOLOGISTS AT MAIMONIDES UNIVERSITY. Gallace, A. (2012). LIVING WITH TOUCH. Available at : https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-25/edition-12/living-touch Twej-A-Sin, M. L. Koole, S. (2013). THAT HUMAN TOUCH MEANS SO MUCH: Exploring the Tactile dimension of Social life. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257037688_That_human_touch_that_means_so_much_Exploring_the_tactile_dimension_of_ social_life Schmeck Jr, Harold. (1983). THE COMPLEX ORGAN KNOWN AS SKIN CONTINUES TO SURPRISE. The New York Times journal. Available at https://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/08/science/the-complexorgan-knowen-as-skin-continues-to-surprise.html Trudeau, M. (2010). HUMAN CONNECTIONS START WITH A FRIENDLY TOUCH. NPR. Available at https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128795325 Halliday Zadeh, S. (2018). OXYTOCIN AND THE POWER OF TOUCH IN BUILDING CONNECTION. Available at https://myalcomy.com/body-language-blog/oxytocin-touch Mallary Holland, T. (2018). FACTS ABOUT TOUCH: How human contact affects your health and relationships. Dignity Health. Available at https://www.dignityhealth.org/articles/facts-about-touch-how-human-contact-affects-your-health-and-relationships PENN MEDICINE. (2018). CAN YOU KISS AND HUG YOUR WAY TO BETTER HEALTH? RESEARCH SAYS YES. Available at https://www.pennmedicine.org/updates/blogs/health-and-wellness/2018/february/affection THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. (2020). SKIN HUNGER. Available at https://www.ed.ac.uk/chaplaincy/for-times-like-these/skin-hunger Coffey, H. (2020). AFFECTION DEPRIVATION: What happens to our bodies when we go without touch?. Independent.Co. Available at https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/touch-skin-hunger-hugs-coronavirus-lockdown-isolation-ctactile-afferent-nerve-a9501676.html Gupta, S. (2020). THE SENSE OF TOUCH. India Times. Available at https://www.indiatimes.com/ health/healthyliving/the-sense-of-touch-242276.html Young, K. (2020). THE REMARKABLE POWER OF TOUCH. Hey Sigmund. Available at https://www.

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

heysigmund.com/the-remarkable-power-of-touch/

Evans, J. (2020). SKIN HUNGER. Medium.com. Available at https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/ skin-hunger-1736f307d1f1 Medaris Miller, A. (2020). PEOPLE ARE EXPERIENCING AFTER MONTHS WITHOUT TOUCHING ANYONE. Insider.com. Available at https://www.insider.com/people-have-skin-hunger-after-months-withouttouching-anyone-2020-6 Barro, C. (2020). ‘SKIN HUNGER’ : Coronavirus leaves people suffering touch deprivation. The New Daily. Available at https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/wellbeing/2020/05/02/skin-hunger-touch-deprivation-coronavirus/ Arkyut, E.(2021). Falling. [image]. Available athttps://unsplash.com/photos/8UvYPJ2j3PA David, J. (2021). Hands hands freedom. [image]. Available athttps://pixabay.com/photos/hand-handsfreedom-worship-man-4661763/ Blan, M. (2020). [Image]. Available athttps://unsplash.com/photos/sAaHII-L-a8 Caetano, G. (2021). Person wearing floral lace shirt. [Image]. Available at https://unsplash.com/photos/ jM8z3nOj91A Kuznetsova, E. [2020]. Person hand on his stomach. [Image]. Available at https://unsplash.com/photos/ RVWopXvxMxE Krivitskiy, A. (2018). Grayscale photography of naked human. [Image]. Available athttps://unsplash. com/photos/rkc85-g-3iE Mehta, Z. (2020). Grayscale photo of woman in black tank top. [Image]. Available athttps://unsplash. com/photos/2kihpf_xC7I LIBOT, Y. (2020). Womans face in grayscale. [Image]. Available athttps://unsplash.com/photos/pRUdOHLEmsQ McCutcheon, S. (2018). Woman leaning on window. [Image]. Available athttps://unsplash.com/photos/gYBjwkO7E5s Pexels. (2021). Adult woman taking a shower. [Image]. Available athttps://pixabay.com/photos/ adult-woman-showering-shower-fresh-1867380/ I.am_nah. (2018). Person raising both hands. [Image]. Available athttps://unsplash.com/photos/-S4OsO0c6Ts Photoshooter2015. .High-contrast twin portrait in backlight. [Image]. Available athttps://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/highcontrast-twin-portrait-backlight-79564417?id=79564417

“All you touch and ever see, is all your life will ever be.” -Pink Floyd

Covid-19 and Touch Starvation

research and design by Rhythm Saluja rhythmsaluja2403@gmail.com