Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) is the natural variation of heart rate with breathing: the heart speeds up slightly as we breathe in and slows down as we breathe out. It is a key measure of cardiac vagal tone, the degree to which the vagus nerve, the main nerve of the parasympathetic (calming) system, regulates the heart. RSA is considered a biomarker of emotion regulation: a higher baseline vagal tone goes with better regulation and smoother social engagement (Porges, 2003). The polyvagal concept of the "vagal brake", the way vagal tone loosens or tightens in response to stress, shows how resilient the system is and how it mobilises resources to cope with a changing environment. Baseline vagal tone at birth also predicts affectionate interactions with mother and father, such as touch and emotional synchrony at 3 months: the infant's disposition towards social engagement and emotion regulation itself invites parental touch (Feldman & Eidelman, 2007). In preterm infants, too, the development of vagal tone correlates significantly with the quality of mother-infant synchrony at 3 months (Feldman, 2006).

A study on simulated maternal deprivation used the still-face paradigm, in which the mother suddenly keeps a neutral, unresponsive face, with and without touch. It measured the effect of maternal touch on the infant's vagal tone at baseline, during the stressful episode and during recovery. As with cortisol, maternal touch during the still-face episodes clearly reduces the swings in vagal tone and speeds up the return of the autonomic nervous system to its baseline balance.

Results

This evidence shows how useful touch is in fostering adaptability and resilience, also by stimulating vagal tone, and confirms its central role in emotional and physiological regulation ("The Handbook of Touch: Neuroscience, Behavioral, and Health Perspectives", Springer Publishing Company). In our magnetic practice we observed these effects of touch and of magnetic passes, the slow movements of the hands near or on the body, well before polyvagal theory made sense of them in nervous-system terms: the breathing deepens, the muscles release, the person returns to calm.

Human touch is therefore more than a way of exchanging emotions: it is a biological instrument that helps the nervous system organise adaptive responses, and it has an essential value in human life.

Learn the method

Mesmeric Polyvagal Therapy is taught in the courses of Dr. Paret's School (ISI-CNV – Université Européenne): live seminars and online lessons, from the first-level Master to advanced training, with specific expertise in polyvagal hypnosis, trembling, completion of the response and ventral vagal stimulation. Request the programme and the next dates: our first contact is always a WhatsApp message, never a call.

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Research notes

A selection of peer-reviewed studies on polyvagal theory and vagal function that offer a scientific reading of the topics discussed in this article.

Löken LS, Wessberg J, et al. (2009). Coding of pleasant touch by unmyelinated afferents in humans. Nature Neuroscience, 12(5), 547-548. Microneurography showed that unmyelinated C-tactile afferents respond most strongly to slow stroking at 1-10 cm/s, the velocities rated as most pleasant; this identifies a dedicated peripheral pathway for affective touch. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2312

McGlone F, Wessberg J, Olausson H (2014). Discriminative and affective touch: sensing and feeling. Neuron, 82(4), 737-755. This review distinguishes the discriminative and the affective dimensions of touch and proposes that C-tactile fibres in hairy skin provide the neurobiological basis for the rewarding, social qualities of touch. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2014.05.001

Craig AD (2002). How do you feel? Interoception: the sense of the physiological condition of the body. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3(8), 655-666. Craig places touch, temperature and visceral signals within a single interoceptive system that represents the condition of the body and may underlie feelings; it explains why touch can have emotional as well as sensory effects. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn894

Field T (2016). Massage therapy research review. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 24, 19-31. A broad review reporting beneficial effects of massage across many conditions and suggesting that stimulation of pressure receptors may enhance vagal activity and lower cortisol; the author notes that many studies rely on self-report and that more rigorous research is needed. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2016.04.005