Nicola Davis, ‘Touch can reduce pain, depression and anxiety, say researchers’, https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/apr/08/touch-reduce-pain-depression-anxiety-mental-physical-health, Guardian News & Media Limited (8 Apr 2024)
Published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, the research encompassed 212 previously published studies and included a statistical analysis of 85 studies involving adults and 52 involving newborns. (…) Among the results, the team found touch was just as beneficial for mental health as physical health. (…) Touch interventions are best suited for reducing pain, depression and anxiety in adults and children as well as for increasing weight gain in newborns.