What
Are The Benefits Of Cuddling And Co-Sleeping Of All Ages?
Cuddling
For Partners and Co-Sleeping For Parents and Children
Or
Parents and Infants
Let me begin by
saying that communicating through touch is SO important it has its own field of
science known as Haptics. ‘Haptics’ is a word that comes to us from Greek,
meaning ‘I fasten onto’ or ‘I touch.’ In his book, “The Stages of Human Life,”
J. Lionel Taylor tells us that “The greatest sense in our body is our sense of
touch… we feel, we love and hate, are touchy and are touched, through the touch
corpuscles of our skin.” And since our skin
is the largest organ of our body there is lot of communication possible through
touch.
The first portion
of our brain to evolve on top of its reptilian heritage is the limbic system,
the seat of emotion. It is this portion of the brain that permits mothers and
their babies to bond and loving couples have it when they cuddle and co sleep. Loving touch triggers the release of oxytocin, often
referred to as the "bonding hormone."
According to
Tiffany Field, PhD, director of the Touch Research Institute at the University
of Miami, “Cuddling stimulates pressure receptors in the skin that create a
host of effects, including reducing levels of the stress hormone cortical,
lowering heart rate and blood pressure, and improving digestion.” And research
says it works the same in adults. Touch has been found to increase
self-disclose, rapport and comfort. When the well-known therapists Masters and
Johnson were helping couples overcome problems they recommended time together
just cuddling.
According to bio behavioral scientists at
UCLA School of Medicine, touch is critical to a baby’s brain development.
Developmental neuroscience research finds that the infant brain is designed to
be molded by the environment it encounters. In other words, babies are born
with a certain set of genetics, but they must be activated by early experience
and interaction. In the critical first months of life, events are imprinted in
the nervous system. “Gentling” is the behavior that involves the stroking
and touching of newborns of humans and other animals.
“Hugs and kisses during these critical
periods make those neurons grow and connect properly with other neurons,” says
Dr. Arthur Janov, in his book, Biology of Love, “You can kiss that brain
into maturity.”
Studies
in bonding also show that human babies who are held often and touched
frequently in their earliest stages of development have higher scores on
physical, emotional, and interpersonal scales (Klaus & Kennell, 1976; Field
et. al., 1986). Mothers and
babies are hard-wired for the experience of togetherness through breastfeeding,
co-sleeping, and baby carrying.
