Touch & Oxytocin: Nuance

We often talk about how touch can be really beneficial, how it leads to the increase in release of the feel-good hormones – which includes Oxytocin, which the “bonding hormone” and so it helps us build social connection (which, if you haven’t heard is a really key component to longevity).

You might have even heard about needing to get a certain amount of hugs in per day or time in hugs, and that kind of thing. Because touch does increase the production of Oxytocin. But does it happen every single time you make physical contact with another person?

No. Context is important. So not ALL touch gives you that same series of interactions and therefore not ALL touch gives you the same results.

A few things that seem to be important:

• Type of touch (is it soft or is it rough?) – Oxytocin production is increased only in pleasant situations of touch.
• What’s the intent behind it (is it caring or not?) – Whether by some other mechanism or perhaps via the effect intention has on execution of touch, depending on someone’s intent we might increase Oxytocin levels or not.
• Time in contact – as you can imagine, the more time in contact (when the other elements line up) is going to lead to more Oxytocin.
• Familiarity with the person touching you – interestingly, we produce less Oxytocin when people we don’t know are touching us.
• Area of the body touched (is it the back or the face or your leg?) – different areas are likely to elicit different degrees of responses depending on your personal preferences. For example, someone who likes their back being tickled, will get more Oxytocin from that experience than someone who doesn’t.

This is why we focus so heavily on HOW to touch in class. The intent, the pace, the trust, and the understanding of touch biology – this all comes together to set you up with a recipe that is most likely to get the best response from your time together.

More Oxytocin equals a faster bond with your client. That means more visits, which is great for you as a practitioner, but more importantly it means a higher chance of them getting out of pain (your client) and feeling better in their bodies – overall better outcomes for them.

These are things to think about not just as a practitioner, but also if you’re wondering why certain interactions with people have different feelings, even when they might appear similar on the outside.

Learning touch literacy goes beyond massage. It reaches out into everything you do – and all the relationships you have and will have. That’s really why we teach you massage techniques through the lens of touch biology. Because evidently, the nuanced details are extremely important.

Drew.