# @denverwestword on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DGMN2ixJjos
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/27799955-denverwestword-instagram
- **Posted:** 2025-02-17T22:36:59.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Denver Westword (@denverwestword) — https://gondola.cc/denverwestword

## Caption

“When was the last time someone touched you — not by accident, not out of obligation, but with care and intention?” Ikuta asked during her address at the Human Connection Conference in Denver in November. “For many people, that question brings a moment of stillness. Maybe it was a hug that felt like home. Or maybe, like so many of us, it’s been far too long.”

A dearth of touch can cause lingering, if not lifelong, problems.

Loneliness, according to Ikuta, has exacerbated everything from heart disease to chronic fatigue syndrome to alcoholism — basically, pathology on a systemic level. Science bears that out. Numerous studies have determined that human touch has profound health benefits; according to a 2021 article in the Economist, medical researchers around the world agree on touch’s ability to flood our bodies with a cocktail of anxiety-dampening, inflammation-soothing hormones, including the serotonin, oxytocin and dopamine cited by Ikuta. Babies that are touched more than others gain weight and develop cognitively at a faster rate. There’s even evidence that the cell-stimulating power of touch can help combat cancer and HIV.

“If you are human, you should be cuddled,” Ikuta adds. “End of story.”

✍️ Read this week’s cover story on professional cuddle therapists by jason__heller at westword.com or at the link in our bio.
🎥 katrinaleibee 

#denver #denvercolorado #cuddling #cuddletherapy #westword #milehighcity

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 429
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 11

## Tags

cuddling, denver, milehighcity, denvercolorado, westword, cuddletherapy

---
Copyright (c) Gondola