Texto para as perguntas de 1 a 8 . COVID-19 AND TOUCH The pandemic has been an exercise in subtraction. There are the voids [vazios] left by...
Texto para as perguntas de 1 a 8.
COVID-19 AND TOUCH
The pandemic has been an exercise in subtraction. There are the voids [vazios] left by loved ones who have succumbed to covid-19, the gaps [lacunas] where jobs and schools used to be, and the absence of friends and family. And then there are the smaller things that are missing. To stop the spread of covid-19, people have forsaken [abandonaram, renunciaram a] the handshakes, pats [tapinhas], squeezes [apertos leves], and strokes [afagos, carícias] that warm [dão calor às] daily interactions. The loss of any one hardly seems worthy of note.
And yet touch is as necessary to human survival as food or water, says Tiffany Field, director of the Touch Research Institute at the Miller School of Medicine, part of the University of Miami. It is the first sense to develop and the only one necessary for survival. We can live with the loss of sight or hearing. But without touch, which enables us to detect such stimuli as pressure, temperature, and texture, we would be unable to walk or feel pain. Our skin is the vehicle through which we navigate the world.
Certain groups have long been starved of touch. For centuries lepers [leprosos] were considered untouchable. Dalits, the lowest caste in India, were literally known as “Untouchables.” Solitary confinement is used as a punishment in prisons. In a film made before his death in 2015 Peter Collins, a Canadian convict locked up alone, said he craved [almejava] so intensely the touch of another human being that he pretended the flies walking on his skin were his wife’s fingers. But not until the pandemic, with its widespread social distancing, have such vast swathes [faixas] of the population been deprived of friendly physical contact for so long.
Humans need touch to form close relationships. To improve its chances of survival, Homo sapiens evolved to live in groups. Humans “need to interact with each other,” explains Alberto Gallace, a psycho-biologist at the University of Milano-Bicocca, which may explain why, like other social animals, they have developed a neurological system designed to respond to affectionate touch. Stimuli applied to the skin at a certain pressure and speed – “basically a caress [carícia],” says Dr. Gallace – activates a specific nerve fiber in the skin. Simulating this fiber lights up parts of the brain responsible for pleasure, releasing a cocktail of hormones, including dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin, that soothe anxiety and make us feel happier.
The importance of touch starts early. A review of scientific literature conducted in 2016 found that babies who had skin-to-skin contact with their mothers immediately after birth were 32% more likely to breastfeed [amamentar] successfully on their first attempt than those who did not. Several hours later, they also had better heart and lung function and higher blood-sugar levels. In one study in 1986 in America premature babies who were given regular massages for ten days shortly after they were born gained weight more quickly and left intensive care sooner than premature babies who were not. Their physical and cognitive development was also better than the control group in tests a year later.
The positive health effects continue. Touch depresses levels of cortisol, a hormone produced in response to stress. In addition to triggering the “fight or flight” [lutar ou fugir] response, cortisol suffocates “natural killer cells,” a type of white blood cell that attacks viruses and bacteria. Touch can also increase the production of natural killer cells in patients with HIV and cancer, according to Dr. Field. In 2014 researchers at Carnegie Mellon University observed that healthy adults who were hugged more frequently were less likely to get colds, perhaps because such embraces are a way of communicating affection, and people who feel cared for are less likely to fall ill [ficar doentes].
Without regular contact people can become “skin hungry,” a state in which they experience less touch than they want. The few studies that have been done into skin hunger suggest it is harmful. A survey of 509 adults from around the world in 2014 suggested that being deprived of touch was linked to loneliness, depression, stress, mood and anxiety disorders, and secondary immune disorders. In any event, it’s clear that the pandemic has made many more people aware of their craving for touch.
Adapted from The Economist, February 20, 2021.
FGV-SP 2022 (Administração) - QUESTÃO 08
The main purpose of the last paragraph is most likely to
a) warn about a common but often-ignored health problem.
b) highlight an important argument against social distancing.
c) point out the main reason for so much of the widespread suffering that has occurred during the covid-19 pandemic.
d) regarding the pandemic, identify a possible consequence and its possible side effects.
e) discuss a little-known emotional disorder – “skin hunger” – that will be an integral part of post-pandemic world society.
QUESTÃO ANTERIOR:
RESOLUÇÃO (Cursos Objetivo):
O principal propósito do último parágrafo em relação à pandemia, é identificar uma consequência possível e seus possíveis efeitos colaterais.
GABARITO:
d) regarding the pandemic, identify a possible consequence and its possible side effects.
PRÓXIMA QUESTÃO:
QUESTÃO DISPONÍVEL EM: