The enduring power of touch

Touch has been integral to many cultures for millennia but only relatively recently has its power to transform, heal and connect individuals been properly recognised. With the advent of touchless treatment technology – and an increase in the number of people living more solitary, lonely lives – the human element remains more important today than ever before.

In 2020, BBC Radio 4 and the Wellcome Collection conducted the Touch Test to analyse people’s attitudes to touch. The global study of 40,000 people from 112 countries found that positive attitudes towards touch are linked with greater wellbeing and lower levels of loneliness. 72 per cent of respondents had a positive attitude to touch, but 43 per cent felt society did not enable people to touch enough.

“There is a renewed interest in the benefits of touch because we, as a society, have been touch deprived since 2020,” says Christine Clinton, founder of Christine Clinton Cancer Care. “This has led to an increase in anxiety,

depression and other mental health disorders.”

In 2024, Natura Bissé released the findings of a major study with the University of Murcia, which found that touch therapy treatments increased a sense of wellbeing by 67 per cent, also improving self-esteem. This demonstrates what we have always known about the importance of touch to the spa industry.

WHAT IT MEANS FOR SPAS…

Spa and wellness operators are in a unique position to provide people with much needed touch, delivering profound therapies that are able to connect on a human level and offer transformative change.