Ep: 425: Use Touch When Talk Is Tough, Close Your Eyes in a Dressing Room, and Answers for Questioners

Importance

The importance of touch in relationships cannot be overstated, as it offers both emotional and physiological benefits. Gretchen Rubin highlights how touch can lower stress, blood pressure, and even improve mood by releasing natural opiates in the brain 1. Babies, for instance, thrive with skin-to-skin contact, gaining weight faster and sleeping better. Elizabeth Craft agrees, noting that touch can also remind us of our love for others, especially during tough conversations 2.

Babies who get skin to skin contact gain weight more quickly. They sleep better, cry less, get fewer infections.

--- Gretchen Rubin

Touch can transform difficult interactions into more tender exchanges, making it a valuable tool in communication.

   

Practical Use

Incorporating touch into everyday situations can ease stress and improve communication. Gretchen Rubin shares that touching someone during a difficult conversation can lower stress and create a more tender atmosphere 1. This practice is not only beneficial for the person being touched but also for the one initiating it, as acting in a loving way can foster more loving feelings 3.

If you act in a loving, tender, gentle way, you will begin to have more gentle, loving, tender thoughts.

--- Gretchen Rubin

However, Elizabeth Craft reminds listeners that this approach is best suited for home environments, emphasizing the importance of appropriate and welcome touch.