Video: https://www.tiktok.com/@distilledscience/video/7505169985287834910
Transcript
If you hate anyone touching you like this, on the head or anywhere else, there's some pretty cool neuroscience that might explain why and suggest some practical alternatives. This is What the Science, Tingles and Touch, Episode 2. Last time we covered how you have specific types of nerves called CT fibers that are sensitive to this type of slow tingly touch. And how doing it can both boost oxytocin levels and make it feel better when your oxytocin levels are higher. Around 70% of you said that you'd prefer one minute of chills to one minute of gentle massage. But there were a whole bunch of you in the comments who said that you hate anyone touching you like this. So if you've ever wondered why that is, or needed to explain it to a friend or loved one, grab your science hats and buckle in. Imagine your nervous system is a postal service. First, you have millions of tiny post offices in your skin called nerve endings. These sort incoming touch into different categories. CT mailboxes handle slow, gentle strokes as friend mail. Another type processes firm pressure as infomail, and pain mailboxes stamp emergency on anything sharp or hot. All of these messages then travel to your regional sorting hub, your spine, where they're scanned and sent on to different neural highways headed towards your brain. Once there, it goes through several departments. The sorting desk decides what the touch is. The reward office decides how much we like it, and the threat office sounds the alarm if anything looks risky. When this whole system works perfectly, a gentle stroke arrives with a smiley-faced stamp, pure tingly pleasure. And that's how it usually goes for neurotypical folks. But here are five ways it can go wrong. For those on the autism spectrum, the staff in their brain never got the full basic training. and sometimes in an emergency one, making the light touch feel irritating and sometimes painful. With ADHD, the regional and central hubs are noisy and disorganized. The friend mail and infomail get easily mixed up, and the brain ends up shouting, too much mail, stop. Every day it piles up more and more and more, you gotta get it up, and more, and more it keeps coming in! With chronic pain or fibromyalgia, the regional spinal sorting center operator is colorblind, and can't tell the difference between those green and red letters, and the light green touches end up getting sorted into that red paint, highway. With depression, all the staff in the brain's reward office goes on strike, so even correctly delivered friend mail gets no feel-good reaction. And with high social anxiety or trauma, the security team in the central office is all jumpy, so any unexpected letters, even friend mail, triggers an alarm. But all is not lost. If you're in one of these categories, here are some ways for you to work within the wonky system to still bond with your partner, boosting that oxytocin production. One, choose heavier packages. or use yourself as a blanket, or a deep pressure massage. These ride the info mail route bypassing those glitchy CT channels. Two, give clear tracking numbers. Burbally signal when and where touch will happen. Predictability quiets those security officers. Three, set your environment. Warmth, dim light, and low noise, keep that whole sorting office calm so nothing gets put in the wrong place. Four, skip the post office entirely. There are many ways to boost oxytocin and bonding with your partner that don't involve touch at all. We'll cover those next.
Additional notes
Replying to @Larissa Quiroga Do any of the 5 descriptions line up with your experience? If not, I want to hear about it! 👇 Describe where you are on the neurological spectrum, and how you respond to touch! NOTE: This is an oversimplification of some very complicated neuroscience-and some of these topics we still don't fully understand–but I hope it gives you some language to better discuss what you’re feeling, as well as tools to cope with it! For a more detailed article on this whole topic, check out my newsletter (it’ll be coming there once I finish my full deep dive) Here are the studies that I went through to make this video: 1. Altered somatosensory processing in adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – Frost-Karlsson, 2024 2. Altered tactile sensitivity in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder – Puts, 2017 3. Atypical Response to Affective Touch in Children with Autism – Bufo, 2022 4. Behavioural and neural markers of tactile sensory processing in infants at elevated likelihood of ASD and/or ADHD – [PubMed], 2020 5. Brain Mechanisms for Processing Affective (and Nonaffective) Touch Are Atypical in Autism – [PMC], 2016 6. Central sensitization: Implications for the diagnosis and treatment of pain – [ScienceDirect], 2010 7. Defining pleasant touch stimuli: a systematic review and meta-analysis – Taneja, 2021 8. Differential diagnosis of SMD and ADHD: participation, sensation, and attention – Yochman, 2013 9. Disorder-specific alterations of tactile sensitivity in neurodevelopmental disorders – He, 2021 10. Early and Concurrent Features of ADHD and Sensory Over-Responsivity Symptom Clusters – Ben-Sasson, 2017 11. Proprioception, Emotion and Social Responsiveness in Children with Developmental Disorders – [PubMed], 2024 12. Sensory Processing in Individuals With ADHD Compared to Control Populations – Jurek, 2025 13. Sharpened self-other distinction in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – Boehme, 2020 14. Tactile perception in adults with autism: a multidimensional psychophysical study – Cascio, 2008 15. Tactile Sensory Dysfunction in Children with ADHD – Ghanizadeh, 2008 16. The perception of affective touch in anorexia nervosa – Crucianelli, 2016 17. The relation between human hair follicle density and touch perception – Jönsson, 2017 18. The relationship between ADHD traits and sensory sensitivity in the general population – Panagiotidi, 2018 19. The Touched Body and the Experience of Self – [SpringerLink], 2025 #science #health #psychology #oxytocin #edutok #relationships
References
- Altered somatosensory processing in adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Frost-Karlsson, 2024.
- Altered tactile sensitivity in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Puts, 2017.
- Atypical Response to Affective Touch in Children with Autism. Bufo, 2022.
- Behavioural and neural markers of tactile sensory processing in infants at elevated likelihood of ASD and/or ADHD. PubMed, 2020.
- Brain Mechanisms for Processing Affective (and Nonaffective) Touch Are Atypical in Autism. PMC, 2016.
- Central sensitization: Implications for the diagnosis and treatment of pain. ScienceDirect, 2010.
- Defining pleasant touch stimuli: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Taneja, 2021.
- Differential diagnosis of SMD and ADHD: participation, sensation, and attention. Yochman, 2013.
- Disorder-specific alterations of tactile sensitivity in neurodevelopmental disorders. He, 2021.
- Early and Concurrent Features of ADHD and Sensory Over-Responsivity Symptom Clusters. Ben-Sasson, 2017.
- Proprioception, Emotion and Social Responsiveness in Children with Developmental Disorders. PubMed, 2024.
- Sensory Processing in Individuals With ADHD Compared to Control Populations. Jurek, 2025.
- Sharpened self-other distinction in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Boehme, 2020.
- Tactile perception in adults with autism: a multidimensional psychophysical study. Cascio, 2008.
- Tactile Sensory Dysfunction in Children with ADHD. Ghanizadeh, 2008.
- The perception of affective touch in anorexia nervosa. Crucianelli, 2016.
- The relation between human hair follicle density and touch perception. Jönsson, 2017.
- The relationship between ADHD traits and sensory sensitivity in the general population. Panagiotidi, 2018.
- The Touched Body and the Experience of Self. SpringerLink, 2025.
- DOI/PMID numbers and direct source links were not listed in workbook for these references.