The feeling of a kiss on the cheek survives the decades

A Marseille team from the CNRS has published the results of an astonishing study on the evolution of touch over the decades. They compared the sensitivity of 96 women, aged 20 to 75, at the fingertip, forearm and cheek. Result: only tactile sensitivity decreases, and that of the cheek is the best preserved.

This is a beautiful French discovery that Géraldine Zamansky, from the Magazine de la Santé on France 5, is talking about today. Whatever our age, the pleasure of a kiss on the cheek remains intact. Researchers hypothesize that hair has both a protective and “sensory” mission. A study that serves as a reminder of the importance of touch in soothing the elderly.

franceinfo: Does this area of ​​the face retain its sensitivity over the decades?

Geraldine Zamansky: Absolutely, there’s no need to reinforce a kiss on the cheek to your grandmother, while you may have to speak a little louder to compensate for her hearing loss. These are the results of a study that compared the evolution of sensitivity in the fingers, forearm and cheeks between the ages of 20 and 75.

Against all expectations, it is the cheeks that maintain the best performance, as Jean-Marc Aimonetti, whose CNRS-University of Aix-Marseille laboratory organized this astonishing research, explained to me. Even at 75 years old, the cheeks remain capable of detecting what would be the equivalent of a very light draft.

But how did they manage to measure such sensitivity?

Thanks to the patience of 96 women who agreed to devote about two hours to them. In a small room protected from noise, blindfolded, while very fine filaments were applied to different areas of their skin with more or less subtle pressure. I assure you, as Jean-Marc Aimonetti told me, there were breaks.

He explained to me that the greatest loss of sensitivity concerns the fingers. They are exposed to multiple sources of “wear and tear”. Cooking, gardening, manual work… The skin hardens and some of its receptors disappear. Nothing to do with that of the forearms, which remains very sensitive. This is thanks to the frequent protection of clothing in our tropics and especially, hair!

Hair improves sensitivity?

Exactly, they work like a kind of additional antennae. Their slightest movements are transmitted to the receptors in the skin. And I asked Jean-Marc Aimonetti: this also applies to the very fine down that covers women’s cheeks. By the way, why only women in this study? Because it began with other research on moisturizing creams.

It is planned to restore parity with a male survey this time. (To find out if daily shaving changes the situation for men, for example.) But one thing is certain: our skin retains its sensitivity better if we take care of it. Protection from the sun, hydration, drinking water and with creams, even very basic ones… Think about it this summer, to savor for a long time the pleasure of receiving a kiss – desired – on the cheek!

The study by Léonard Samain-Aupi, Mariama Dione, Edith Ribot-Ciscar, Rochelle Ackerley, Jean-Marc Aimonetti – Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, CRPN (Center for Research in Psychology and Neurosciences – UMR 7077), Marseille, France.