Can a sex doll help satisfy the need for human touch?

There are a few obvious things that we all know are vital to human survival: food. Water. Oxygen. One element though is less obvious and often more elusive and that’s touch. At first glance, touch might not seem like it would be as vital as say food or water, but scientific studies show that it’s actually incredibly powerful, and necessary in a wide range of differing ways. 

Granted, we’re not going to claim that in the absence of human touch you’d suffer the same kind of physical harm as you would if deprived of water or food but, scientists acknowledge that touch is essential to wellbeing. 

“The need for human touch is one of our most basic, primal needs,” explains Psychology Today. “Touch deprivation is correlated with negative health outcomes such as anxiety, depression, and immune system disorders.” 

The impact of touch on wellbeing is something that academics and scientists have been studying for a while – though it’s perhaps more relevant now than ever before, given how much time we spend on our phones and interacting online rather than meeting in person. That’s before we even consider the impact of the pandemic and how it forced us to physically distance from others, making human touch even less frequent.  

 “The science of touch came of age in the mid-1990s, when two scientists travelled to Romania to examine the sensory deprivation of children in understaffed orphanages. The touch-deprived children, they found, had strikingly lower cortisol and growth development levels for their age group,” explains the award-winning Emmy nominated investigative reporter, Jonathan Jones in an article published by Berkley University’s Greater Good Magazine.

“From the time we are in the womb through our elderly years, touch plays a primary role in our development and physical and mental well-being. New studies on touch continue to show the importance of physical contact in early development, communication, personal relationships, and fighting disease.”

Touch is declining 

The pandemic has changed many aspects of our social and dating life, but it’s also impacted how much we interact with other people. One of the first things that the pandemic quickly ruled out was close social interaction, meaning no hugs, massages or even handshakes. Those habits are hard to unlearn after two years of hearing that close contact should be avoided at all costs. 

As we mentioned earlier, the increased hours of screen team and ease of digital interaction also means we’re communicating less and touching less by virtue of being immersed in a smartphone rather than another person. 

Speaking to Jones, Tiffany Field from the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine outlined a study carried out at airports in the USA. Her observations confirmed that casual touch is lacking in our day-to-day habits. “I’m doing an airport study, and I was in two airports yesterday, and there’s no touching going on,” she said. “Everyone’s on their smartphone, even couples who were obviously traveling together, even parents of children. The kids are all on smartphones and so are their parents, and little two-year-olds on iPads.”

An alternative to human touch 

Researchers and academics agree that the impact of touch could be replicated by having a pet, using a weighted blanket or even performing yoga. So why can’t a sex doll also help to stave off some of the metal and physical issues caused by a lack of human touch? Whether you’re keeping your distance due to the pandemic or just haven’t really met anyone you want to get close to, a sex doll could feasibly replace human touch and give you the same wellness benefits that person-to-person contact is shown to offer. 

Here's how and why: 

1. Advanced materials mimic the feel of human touch 

If your only experience of sex dolls is pop culture images of the old blow-up dolls of the 60s and 70s, it’s time to upgrade your knowledge of sex dolls! Today’s dolls are crafted using seriously sophisticated materials and design technology. Modern dolls are most typically made from either TPE or very high-grade silicone. These materials feel akin to human skin. Modern sex dolls can also be heated to enhance that realistic sensation and will retain that heat for a decent period of time. 

1. Realistic human form

Another important way that sex dolls can help to deliver some of the same benefits of human touch on your overall wellbeing and mental health is that they have the same build as a human. They are a realistic weight and human size. Couple this with a human-like, warm skin and a sex doll can be hugged or touched in much the same way as a human. If you crave more contact, you can also snuggle up to your sex doll in bed, wrap your arms around the doll, have it ‘sleep’ on your arm like another human might or even throw a leg over the doll as you drift off in bed. 

1. Sexual release

We’d argue that for many people, sexual release is just as important to mental wellbeing, reducing stress levels and overall wellbeing as touch. Of course, the two are intrinsically linked and this is another area where a sex doll can help you to access the very human need for contact, without physically being in the presence of another human (which is very handy as we navigate a future that could include new strains of the COVID virus and a return to social distancing measures). 

A doll goes further than sexual release of course. It can also give you free rein to indulge your wildest fantasies, to live out your most taboo desires and to get as imaginative as you want without taking your partner’s feelings or preferences into account. At all. This is a chance to experiment, to indulge and to focus purely on your own pleasure. And really, we reckon that can only be a good thing for your stress levels and feel-good hormones! 

1. Prepare now for mind-blowing skin-on-skin contact later 

Having innate confidence in your sexual prowess isn’t a given for many of us. It takes time to build up confidence but, that can become a frustrating catch-22 as you feel too unsure of yourself to enjoy each sexual encounter but want more in order to grow your confidence. 

A sex doll gives you unlimited capacity not just for experimentation, but for practise too, something that very few of us have in real life. Imagine how much happier, more confident, and assertive you might be if you could perfect your favourite positions, try new things and become a more confident partner, without the need for a human partner. Having an open invitation for sex as creative as you want to make it, at any time, can only be a good thing when it comes to helping you prepare for truly mind-blowing, long-lasting skin-on-skin contact when the next opportunity or connection presents itself.