Stress Jewellery.

In Life one of the most important parts of the human senses is the ability to touch and feel Life. A person may be blind or deaf, or not have the ability to smell. But one of the senses that never seems lost is the sense of touch. Touch is the oldest most primitive and pervasive sense. It is the first sense we have in the womb of our mothers and the last one we lose before death.

In our skin we have about 50 Touch receptors for every square centimetre and about 5 Million sensory cells and our skin loves to be touched. The Organ that is most associated with touch is the skin. The skin is one of the body’s largest organs and the most complex. The skin not only protects all of our Organs it also helps us feel our way around the world and know the difference between Soft and Hard, Hot and Cold etc.

One of the things often noticed when we hurt ourselves, for example the child that falls over, what is the first thing that child learns to do? Yes rub the area they have hurt. Often you will hear the mother tell the child who as fallen over, 'Come here and I will rub it better'.  This is the same with adults, we have a bang and what do we do? We rub the area affected to stop the pain.

If we all think about it Touch is one of the senses we wouldn't want to live without. How we would miss hugging our loved ones, or shaking hands with someone we meet. How strange it would be if we did these things without the Sense of Touch. When we feel the Sense of Touch we seem to get an emotional response from it. If we hug our loved one we feel emotional warmth and a feeling of care in our hearts. If we shake hands with that person we first meet we feel we have got to know them a bit better and we feel less of a stranger around them.  So touch is a sense we would not want to live without.

Touch is 100% good for you, with no artificial additives or ingredients and it's easy to do. One of the best things about Touch is you don't need a lot of Fancy expensive equipment, all you need is a body, and if you have one your on your way!

The Comfort, Warmth and reassurance of touch can improve the body's well being by stimulating it's own natural healing abilities giving it a sense of well being, and restoring both the physical and psychological self.

Touch is a Simple means of communication, comfort and something we all do quite naturally.

When I suffered a trauma in my life I went through the natural process of the minds way of coping and I suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I tried to cope with this by seeking out various ways of helping me with the typical symptoms of Stress - Flashbacks, Sudden change in Mood and behaviour and unable to relax and mix with people, and that's just the Psychological symptoms, there were many Physical symptoms that are associated with PTSD.

I went to Counsellors and other Therapists that I felt would be able to help me with these symptoms. I found that talking did help me. It was a chance to 'off load' all my concerns and fears to a good listening ear. It was also nice to try other therapies Like Meditation classes that gave me the chance to unwind and relax for awhile. But that was the thing, those words 'For Awhile'. All of these therapies only gave me the chance to learn to deal with my Symptoms and find ways 'there and then' to cope with them, but when I was alone and out and about by myself there was no way for me to cope with a Sudden Panic attack or Flashback that left me looking around for the nearest exit to make a quick escape. I knew that I would experience times like this and I knew that I had to find a way there and then to cope with them.

I talked at length once to my Counsellor about Flashbacks and Panic Attacks. We spoke about the usual ways of coping, deep breathing, talking aloud in my head to calm myself, trying to focus on something else and so on.

I found all of these things to help to a certain degree but there was still something missing that just didn't seem there.

 Deep breathing was helpful to try and stay calm, but tell someone that when they are in a Middle of a panic attack and they may say, 'If I could stay calm I wouldn't be panicking!' Well that’s the exact response I gave. I knew what to do but there was nothing there to help me do it.

I decided to read about PTSD myself and try and educate myself about this condition and about Stress in general. I started to realize that flashbacks and panic attacks were all part of stress, and when the flashback or panic attack happened the only thing that seemed to help me was feeling something there that reminded me of reality. I knew I needed to stay in the present time and focus on things around me.

 When I was in a shop or in public and I felt the panic or stress coming on; I found that I would start to mess around with my Jewellery. If it was a ring I would twist it around and at the same time try and take deep breaths. Or it may be my bracelet and I would twirl it up and down my arm. I found that I was doing this often without really noticing, and it really seemed to help me stay calm and focused. It was like I was able to bring myself back to where I wanted to be by doing this.

I found that the feeling of having something there and then helped me to focus on the here and now.

I realized that this messing of my Jewellery was a normal part of human response to touch. I had educated myself on the fact that it was the same as the child that fell and hurt itself. To touch the area affected and rub it better gave a healing response and it was just the same for a Psychological condition. I was feeling discomfort and mental pain and the response I got from the Jewellery was the same as rubbing the affected area.

A recent German Study has found that Massage and Touch may play an important role in the treatment of Chronic Schizophrenia and other Mental Health Conditions. The reasoning behind this was that Schizophrenia is a problem of delimitation, and that Psychic problems have their physical embodiment, treatment of the physical level might enhance the patient's ability to experience their own body limits.

The effect of touch therapy was clearly shown on the patient and their mental health state. Their heart rate was calmer and so was their self- perception.

 I started to think about the Jewellery I was wearing, and I started to think about a type of Jewellery that could be worn by anyone at any time; and would have this Therapeutic benefit with it. I started to think about the affect of touch, and I realized that people could benefit from an item of Jewellery that was worn without being noticed, and use it when they felt in any kind of stressful situation. I thought hard and long about a design where the Jewellery could be worn as a normal piece but with an underlying benefit to help people.

The Jewellery would have an inside that could not be seen, but could be felt by the person when they moved it over their skin. This action of moving it up and down the skin would stimulate the skin and calm and help the individual focus on that nice feeling instead of the stressful feeling.

When I moved my ring around my finger or my bracelet around my arm I found the stimulating response calming. I knew that if the inside had been made so there was more of a contact with the skin this would improve the response.

With this idea in my head I used to go out and observe people who I spoke to and watch them ‘fiddle’ around with pieces of Jewellery. They would be talking to me and at the same time they would be messing with a ring or a bracelet and they did this naturally while they talked.

This was even observed with people like Doctors or Solicitors, they seemed to do it while they talked and concentrated on listening. I knew that people seemed to use the natural response of touch as they went about their daily lives. It was something everyone went about doing without a thought about it.

I wrote down a number of ideas for this Jewellery. I knew that nearly everyone likes to wear some type of Jewellery. It was something that people could wear and at the same time receive a positive effect from.

The inside needed to be in contact with the skin as it was moved about; and be able to do this without anyone knowing what was going on.

Touch was the main key, so I worked on something that would have contact with the skin and have an effect as it was worn and ‘fiddled’ with at times when it was needed.  People would be able to use it when they needed to and without thinking about it, as it was just a piece of jewellery to them but with a use.

The inside is made to have a stimulating effect once moved around; it can be worn like any other type of Jewellery, but the extra parts inside allow a feeling to be made against the skin for a  reaction to calm the mind and help with concentration. It can also be worn when a person is in pain and needs to concentrate on something else to take that pain away. I went with a friend while she was in labour and ready to give birth. The pain she was in was bad, and the Midwife kept telling her to think of something else and relax while the contractions were happening.

I could see that she was trying to relax and at the same time she was messing with her Wedding Ring on her finger.  She did this for some time. I noticed she stayed calm. I then took her arm and used my hand to rub up and down her arm as the contractions came and went and she seemed much more relaxed. She told me that touching her skin like that had helped her to focus on the feeling of hear and now and not of the Contraction pain.

So I knew that this Jewellery could be used for physical pain as well.

One of the Priorities in clinical research is the evaluation of nursing intervention techniques helping to alleviate pain. Unfortunately most of the research for example, on Cancer patients, pain relief has been limited to treatment studies involving the administration of analgesic drugs.

Experiments on cancer patients showed the effectiveness of massage and touch as an alternative intervention for cancer pain.

It is all to do with the Touch of the skin and the natural response to this. No matter who we are or where we come from us humans all need the same basic needs. We all have the same basic senses and the one sense we all strive to feel and have is touch.

This Jewellery can help you with this; whenever you need to have that sense brought to you. It is made to help you with this basic sense of touch, but also to be worn as a fun item that can look good as well as make you feel good!

My Stress jewellery will soon be available to buy nationwide and is still in the process of being made and designed.