This means there is no hard number for how long it takes to develop touch starvation. 'Everyone has different needs to be close to another,' Degges-White says. This is what's happening in your body when you feel touch starvation. Your body responds to heightened stress or agitation with a strong longing to be held, stroked, or cuddled. 'When you don't receive enough touch, as in moving the skin, your nervous system goes into an agitated mode,' says Tiffany Field, the director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami. In response, your body releases feel-good brain chemicals like oxytocin. When someone touches you, by stroking your skin or pressing on it with a hug, it stimulates these nerves.
The top layer of your skin, called the epidermis, is full of nerves, along with pressure receptors under the skin. 'Humans are born with the need to be close to other human beings,' says Suzanne Degges-White, a licensed counselor and the chair of the counseling department at Northern Illinois University.
