Modern lifestyle and adversities such as the COVID-19 pandemic pose challenges for our physical and mental health. Hence, it is of the utmost importance to identify mechanisms by which we can improve resilience to stress and quickly adapt to adversity. While there are several factors that improve stress resilience, social behavior—primarily in the form of social touch—is especially vital. This article provides an overview of how the somatosensory system plays a key role in translating the socio-emotional information of social touch into active coping with stress. Important future directions include evaluating in humans whether stress resilience can be modulated through the stimulation of low-threshold C-fiber mechanoreceptors and using this technology in the prevention of stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders such as major depressive disorder.

现代生活方式和 COVID-19 大流行等逆境对我们的身心健康构成挑战。因此，确定我们可以提高对压力的适应能力并迅速适应逆境的机制至关重要。虽然有几个因素可以提高抗压能力，但社交行为——主要是社交接触的形式——尤其重要。本文概述了体感系统如何在将社交接触的社会情感信息转化为积极应对压力方面发挥关键作用。重要的未来方向包括评估人类是否可以通过刺激低阈值 C 纤维机械感受器来调节压力恢复能力，以及使用该技术预防与压力相关的神经精神疾病，例如重度抑郁症。