Here’s why your sense of touch is more important than you think
You probably take for granted your sense of touch. It’s something you naturally do and have done for as long as you can remember. Everyone knows it’s important to see, hear, and even smell, but what about the ability to touch objects? Your sense of touch is more important than you might think.
All The Different Textures
Every surface has a different texture. You can often tell materials apart by touch. As we know, metal is smooth and typically cold to the touch, unless heated. Wood is often rough.
Though the fact that different surfaces have different textures may seem obvious, this particular ability is actually pretty important, as it gives us a whole other set of information about the world around us.
A Natural Phenomenon
People are able to differentiate various textures because of a phenomenon known as a stick-slip friction—the sticky resistance caused by two objects when they slide against each other. The friction resonates in just the right way to cause vibrations in the air. This vibration allows you to feel the different textures and touch and grab objects.
There are many positive aspects of our powerful sense of touch. For example, touch is important for child development and is a critical part of human relationships. Friendly touch communicates meaningful messages to your peers, signaling they can trust you. But touch has an even more important purpose: it’s therapeutic.
Your Sense Of Touch Is Therapy
Your sense of touch offers pain relief, addiction recovery, and treats anxiety, insomnia, headaches, and digestive problems. But the sense of touch improves cognitive development, emotional equilibrium, and mobility for the elderly.
As we grow older, our sense of touch deteriorates, increasing the likelihood of falling. Luckily, there are many ways to improve mobility and touch, and one of those options is for elders to constantly keep their hands moving. Elders should repeatedly touch objects—a blanket, for example. After all, our sense of touch is an important “superpower.” Once we lose it, unfortunately we can’t get it back.