Power of Touch; Ariel Glucklich; Zach Dagan
Reflecting about the sense of touch and trying to figure out what to say about this emotion revoking sense, I came to a conclusion to talk about how human touch has the ability to heal both emotional and physical pain. I also wanted to talk about how physical pain can be delayed in certain situations.
When we had Elizabeth Robinson as a guest speaker in class (who was fantastic by the way) really opened my eyes about how touching/massaging one's body can relieve so much stress. When we were massaging our facial muscles, I did not realize until after the exercise how tense I was. At the end, she emphasized for all of us to make sure we are receiving a form of touch because of the great health benefits it can have, especially in times like today. The touch we receive from others activates endorphins to release in our body which are like natural opiates. The feel good chemicals help in numerous ways within the body.

From reading Ariel Glucklich's book Sacred Pain: Hurting the Body for the Sake of the Soul, I read many interesting facts about pain such as how there are different types such as acute and chronic, the psychological aspects, and much more. One point that I can very much relate to is on page 52 where Glucklich explains how pain is not felt by athletes until much later. Being an athlete myself, I experience this delayed pain all the time and I never knew why this was such the case. She goes on to explain what causes this phenomenon. It is called gate-control theory. This theory works by inhibiting signals that come from the brain and block incoming pain signals from the spinal cord. There are many different factors that cause people to experience pain in different ways, but this is one that stood out to me.
I am also a perfect example of being an athlete and not feeling pain until much later because I had no idea that I broke my hand in my final lacrosse game this year until the next day after the game. I still am unable to recall any point during the game where I felt pain in my hand. It's just crazy to think about how being subjected to pain over and over can make you kind of numb to it until it becomes chronic.
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