The research will look at how touch affects our minds and bodies
With people facing lockdown the world over, starved of contact with loved ones, society after coronavirus will be one that is more in need of touch than ever before. And delivering touch underpins the spa experience.
Just before COVID-19 hit, a global study was launched to “explore our attitudes towards the physical experience of touch” and investigate whether contemporary society experiences ‘touch hunger’.
The Touch Test is an online questionnaire developed by researchers at Goldsmiths University of London and launched by the BBC and the Wellcome Collection museum. It seeks answers about the similarities and differences in our experiences of touch, with the aim of increasing our understanding of its role in health and wellbeing. It explores issues such as how our attitudes towards touch vary by age, nationality and gender and whether contemporary society allows us to get enough touch or leaves us wanting more.
“Touch is an incredibly powerful force in our daily lives, it’s not often until we stop to think about it that we realise how much of a role it actually plays,” says Goldsmiths’ Michael Banissy, a social neuroscience expert who’s conducting the study. “It plays a role in so many human behaviours ranging from the aggressive to the most intimate and it can play a huge role in our development, our social interactions, perceptions of ourselves and our health and wellbeing.”
According to researchers, the study will help shed more light on the unknown subject of how touch affects our minds and bodies in social situations, an area which is not well-explored. “We know a lot about how we process touch but we tend to know a lot less about the use of touch socially and how we use it in a communicative way,” says Banissy.
The study was launched on BBC Radio 4’s All In The Mind programme, which has previously investigated rest and loneliness with contributions from more than 70,000 participants. Presenter Claudia Hammond says: “Like rest and loneliness, touch is something that affects us all – and is more complex than you might think. The Touch Test gives people the opportunity to contribute to large-scale, pioneering research into the topic.”
The Touch Test results are expected to be announced towards the end of this year and will be explored in an upcoming BBC series, The Anatomy of Touch.
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
View contents of Spa Business 2020 issue 2
Editor’s letter: Our greatest challenge
Spa and wellness businesses will reopen while COVID-19 is still circulating in the community, meaning we have to find models which work in this new reality, says Katie Barnes. So how will this change the industry?
On the menu: Pivot to digital
Which forward-thinking spas are taking their offerings online during the coronavirus pandemic?
Interview: Mary Celeste Beall
The celebrated Blackberry Farm has opened a sister property in the mountains of Tennessee. The owner tells Spa Business why wellness through nature underpins the new destination
Everyone’s talking about: COVID-19
Spa operators, wellness companies and organisations from around the world talk to Spa Business about the impact of coronavirus and what to expect down the line
Promotion: Simone Gibertoni: Clinique La Prairie
World-renowned medical spa, Clinique La Prairie, is creating a global network of
locations to support clients with their wellbeing, every day of the year, says its CEO
Research: First responders
ISPA’s COVID-19 survey offers insights into how the industry has responded to the global pandemic. Spa Business magazine examines the findings
Hotel spa: Country life: The Newt
Karen Roos, owner of the world-renowned hotel The Newt, on design, gardens and a spa housed in an old cow barn
Insights: Calls to action
Industry leaders around the world come together in a crisis to share ideas and innovations in a series of GWS Collaboration calls. Spa Business magazine reports on the highlights
Insights: Webinar wisdom
Spa Business shares its industry-relevant takeaways from the masses of webinars that are being streamed worldwide
Research: Measure for measure
Intelligent Spas reveals its latest global spa benchmarks and explores what they mean in today’s ever-changing climate
Focus on: Extreme wellness
Spa Business tries out two boundary-pushing, cold immersion retreats led by ‘The Iceman’ Wim Hof and Dr Marc Cohen
Promotion: Barr and Wray: Creating
a seamless journey
With 60 years of experience, Barr and Wray has long been known for excellence in technical design for wellness. Design director Graeme Banks explains the company also offers interior design services
Interview: Juliu Horvath
The founder of Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis tells Spa Business why he’ll never stop adapting his famous movement modality
Promotion: ISPA publishes Reopening Toolkit
A much-needed guide by ISPA gives essential advice on business planning, standard operating procedures, marketing and communications to support spas through the coronavirus crisis
In the fast-paced world of fitness and wellness, where high-intensity workouts push us to
our limits and the sweat pours, the importance of efficient recovery cannot be overstated. [more...]
The research will look at how touch affects our minds and bodies
With people facing lockdown the world over, starved of contact with loved ones, society after coronavirus will be one that is more in need of touch than ever before. And delivering touch underpins the spa experience.
Just before COVID-19 hit, a global study was launched to “explore our attitudes towards the physical experience of touch” and investigate whether contemporary society experiences ‘touch hunger’.
The Touch Test is an online questionnaire developed by researchers at Goldsmiths University of London and launched by the BBC and the Wellcome Collection museum. It seeks answers about the similarities and differences in our experiences of touch, with the aim of increasing our understanding of its role in health and wellbeing. It explores issues such as how our attitudes towards touch vary by age, nationality and gender and whether contemporary society allows us to get enough touch or leaves us wanting more.
“Touch is an incredibly powerful force in our daily lives, it’s not often until we stop to think about it that we realise how much of a role it actually plays,” says Goldsmiths’ Michael Banissy, a social neuroscience expert who’s conducting the study. “It plays a role in so many human behaviours ranging from the aggressive to the most intimate and it can play a huge role in our development, our social interactions, perceptions of ourselves and our health and wellbeing.”
According to researchers, the study will help shed more light on the unknown subject of how touch affects our minds and bodies in social situations, an area which is not well-explored. “We know a lot about how we process touch but we tend to know a lot less about the use of touch socially and how we use it in a communicative way,” says Banissy.
The study was launched on BBC Radio 4’s All In The Mind programme, which has previously investigated rest and loneliness with contributions from more than 70,000 participants. Presenter Claudia Hammond says: “Like rest and loneliness, touch is something that affects us all – and is more complex than you might think. The Touch Test gives people the opportunity to contribute to large-scale, pioneering research into the topic.”
The Touch Test results are expected to be announced towards the end of this year and will be explored in an upcoming BBC series, The Anatomy of Touch.
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
View contents of Spa Business 2020 issue 2
Editor’s letter: Our greatest challenge
Spa and wellness businesses will reopen while COVID-19 is still circulating in the community, meaning we have to find models which work in this new reality, says Katie Barnes. So how will this change the industry?
On the menu: Pivot to digital
Which forward-thinking spas are taking their offerings online during the coronavirus pandemic?
Interview: Mary Celeste Beall
The celebrated Blackberry Farm has opened a sister property in the mountains of Tennessee. The owner tells Spa Business why wellness through nature underpins the new destination
Everyone’s talking about: COVID-19
Spa operators, wellness companies and organisations from around the world talk to Spa Business about the impact of coronavirus and what to expect down the line
Promotion: Simone Gibertoni: Clinique La Prairie
World-renowned medical spa, Clinique La Prairie, is creating a global network of
locations to support clients with their wellbeing, every day of the year, says its CEO
Research: First responders
ISPA’s COVID-19 survey offers insights into how the industry has responded to the global pandemic. Spa Business magazine examines the findings
Hotel spa: Country life: The Newt
Karen Roos, owner of the world-renowned hotel The Newt, on design, gardens and a spa housed in an old cow barn
Insights: Calls to action
Industry leaders around the world come together in a crisis to share ideas and innovations in a series of GWS Collaboration calls. Spa Business magazine reports on the highlights
Insights: Webinar wisdom
Spa Business shares its industry-relevant takeaways from the masses of webinars that are being streamed worldwide
Research: Measure for measure
Intelligent Spas reveals its latest global spa benchmarks and explores what they mean in today’s ever-changing climate
Focus on: Extreme wellness
Spa Business tries out two boundary-pushing, cold immersion retreats led by ‘The Iceman’ Wim Hof and Dr Marc Cohen
Promotion: Barr and Wray: Creating
a seamless journey
With 60 years of experience, Barr and Wray has long been known for excellence in technical design for wellness. Design director Graeme Banks explains the company also offers interior design services
Interview: Juliu Horvath
The founder of Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis tells Spa Business why he’ll never stop adapting his famous movement modality
Promotion: ISPA publishes Reopening Toolkit
A much-needed guide by ISPA gives essential advice on business planning, standard operating procedures, marketing and communications to support spas through the coronavirus crisis
People taking GLP-1 weight loss medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound
may be losing weight, but they’re also becoming less physically active, according to new
research presented at the ENDO 2026 annual meeting of the Endocrine Society
Abu Dhabi-based investment firm Mubadala Capital has made a binding, fully financed
€1 billion
offer to acquire Pierre and Vacances SA, the European holiday resort operator behind the
continental European Center Parcs business.
Global retreat trade show, Synergy The Retreat Show, has launched a resource called The
Source, which hosts an open-access online Transformation Series programme.
The Standards Authority for Touch in Cancer Care (SATCC) charity has announced its first five-
day Living with Cancer and Beyond retreat, which will be held at Carden Park Hotel and Spa in
Cheshire, UK, between 1 and 5 September.
Patmos Aktis, a Luxury Collection Resort and Spa, has opened in Greece, with a renovated and
rebranded wellness offering called Ansana Wellness and Spa.
The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, an Autograph Collection property in Hawaii, US, has opened its
22,000 sq ft indoor-outdoor Spa at Mauna Kea as the final step in the property’s overall
renovation, which has cost more than US$180 million (€166 million, £140 mill
The UK spa review and discovery platform for consumers, the Good Spa Guide, has announced
it will host the Good Spa Guide Awards 2026 during an event on 16 November at Sopwell House
Hotel in St Albans, UK.
Eighty-four per cent of consumers now say wellness is a top priority in their lives, with this
percentage increasing year on year, according to a preview presentation of McKinsey’s Future of
Wellness 2026 research report.
Mass protests have been taking place since Monday 1 June in Albania over the development of
a luxury resort by Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.
Global Wellness Day (GWD) marked its 15th anniversary on Saturday 13 June 2026, with the
theme: #JoyMagenta – a celebration of the healing qualities of simple gestures and activities
that spark joy.
In the fast-paced world of fitness and wellness, where high-intensity workouts push us to
our limits and the sweat pours, the importance of efficient recovery cannot be overstated. [more...]
