Self-Help: How To Reach Out & Touch, literally.
Massages, Musings, Girlfriends & More
According to Researchers at Duke and the University of Arizona the number of true confidants that Americans say they have in on the decline. In fact, since the 1980s, it has dropped from about three to about two. And, about a fourth of Americans say they have no confidents outside of their families - twice the percentage of two decades ago.
Translation? Americans are increasingly cut off not only from emotional support but from the therapeutic benefits of physical touch as well. Humans, not just Americans, are pack animals. We are "hard-wired" to thrive in social, touchy feely environments. Studies have proven that a simple hug – a little touch – not only lowers output of cortisol, a stress hormone, but triggers a surge of our two “feel good” brains chemicals, serotonin and dopamine.
Massages, Musings, Girlfriends & More
According to Researchers at Duke and the University of Arizona the number of true confidants that Americans say they have in on the decline. In fact, since the 1980s, it has dropped from about three to about two. And, about a fourth of Americans say they have no confidents outside of their families - twice the percentage of two decades ago.
Translation? Americans are increasingly cut off not only from emotional support but from the therapeutic benefits of physical touch as well. Humans, not just Americans, are pack animals. We are "hard-wired" to thrive in social, touchy feely environments. Studies have proven that a simple hug – a little touch – not only lowers output of cortisol, a stress hormone, but triggers a surge of our two “feel good” brains chemicals, serotonin and dopamine.
1 comment:
Last week we had our Area Toastmasters Speech contest. The contestant from our group had worked hard and really, really wanted to win. She did not. I could feel her disappointment. The next morning I called to see if she was doing well. She sounded fine and stated that she doesn’t let disappointment hold her down. I was glad to hear she was doing better.
I should take a lesson from her. Sometimes I allow disappointments to hold me down and I obsess over what I could have done differently.
Cheering someone else may teach you a lesson in resilience.
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