Macbeth wrote:
ouinon wrote:
I think that including sex or at least extensive physical therapy/massage etc, in govt funded health services for the alone and chronically depressed might be a humane step.
Finding someone to mate with is not actually that hard these days,
provided certain requirements are met. ... that Aspies can't usually [ meet ].
That is the impression I get from the "Love and Dating" forum, which is why I started thinking about all this in the first place.
Apparently "touch" is increasingly recognised as a crucial part of health, ( mental and physical ), for many people. There are two kinds; regular supportive/loving touch, ( from a partner/friend or even a therapist ),
and sexual activity, especially with a "loved one", because of the oxytocin released.
Here is quite a good article on the subject:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 19462.htmlNB. Hope that link doesn't stretch the page out; it looks alright on my browser.
Some excerpts from another article:
Gail_Sheeey wrote:
Married men from 18-44 are strikingly healthier than bachelors of the same age. ... Human touch affects the body's response to stress and threatening situations. ... Handholding reduces agitation in the hypothallamus, which controls the release of stress hormones. ... [ and in a study; ] The mortality of 1000 middle-aged men was tracked over the course of a decade. The men who had sex 3 or more times a week had a 50% reduced risk of heart attack or stroke.
It seems to me that some sort of ( free or inexpensive ) physical/touch therapy provided as part of government funded health services would be perfectly reasonable. Although specifically sexual activity does apparently have its own significant effect on men's health regular sustained touch therapy would be an improvement on the current situation, in which many/most men depend on their success in the mating game for a dose of "human touch".
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