Alone and in need of a hug in shutdown
CHICAGO: Six nights a week, Shelley Howard could normally be found at a restaurant or bar in the famous Rush Street area of Chicago, dining out or having a drink with friends. A naturally social person, Howard, 73, regularly posted online pictures from his nights out, often showing him giving hugs or handshakes. But for the past three weeks, like millions of people around the world, he has seen none of his friends-instead, sitting at home to try to avoid the coronavirus pandemic.
Howard, who still works as a graphic artist in the music industry, lives alone, so the confinement orders and the shutdown of non-essential business have left him isolated and cut off from almost all human contact. “I’m critically aware of that. I posted Springsteen’s ‘Human Touch’ video on my Facebook page last week,” Howard said. “I’m a big hugger, and people like me. But it is what it is.”
His experience is matched around the globe by those mourning the loss of daily physical contact that was once taken for granted, and which scientists say is vital. “What happens with touch is a very physical change,” said Tammy Field, director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine. “The nervous system is slowed. Heart rate decreases, blood pressure decreases, brainwaves change in the direction of more relaxation, and that in turn knocks down cortisol, which is the stress hormone.”
Staying in touch
Lilia Chacon, who works as the director of communications for the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, also yearns for the return of simple human touch in her life. Chacon, 65, lives alone and has been working from home. “This is how fast your reality changes. I’ll be watching TV and you’ll see people all together at a table, all hugging and I’ll say to myself, ‘Oh my God, that would never happen today. No way!’,” Chacon said. To try to make up for the lack of hugs and handshakes, Chacon said she has been using video chats with friends. “We find ways of maintaining friendships and intimacy. I’ve been really making a point of using FaceTime. I’m making a point of staying in touch with my friends in a visual way, not just phone calls.