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Have you ever wondered how often you touch your face every day? Research from a German psychologist at the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, says it is an average of 50 times an hour – or up to 800 times a day.
Some of these touches, says Julian Packheiser, serve a practical purpose, such as to fix your hairstyle or rub tired eyes. But most are done for no apparent reason.
Packheiser is conducting research into the health effects of touch and made his findings public in the German magazine Spektrum Psychologie.
He explains that unconscious facial touching could serve an important function. “According to recent theories, unconscious facial touching serves to reduce stress and helps regulate our emotional balance.”

Touch in general is known to promote good health. It can alleviate anxiety, reduce sadness, lessen pain and even lower blood pressure.
This not only applies to contact with others: in a randomised controlled study conducted in 2021, researchers at the Goethe University Frankfurt found that both touching others and touching oneself before a stressful situation had an effect on the stress levels of the participants.
Both those who were touched by others and those who touched themselves had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their blood afterwards than the third group of untouched people.

Incidentally, not touching your face would sometimes be better – it can contribute to the transmission of infections – but it is not that easy.
“Actively avoiding touching your face to reduce infections requires mental effort,” write the researchers. So we have to do it consciously.
The participants in the self-touching group did not always choose the face; some stroked their arm or placed their hands on their chest. Nevertheless, other research suggests that facial touching occurs particularly frequently in stressful or cognitively demanding situations, Packheiser says.
This is shown, for example, by a systematic review by a team of researchers from the Paul Flechsig Institute’s Centre for Neuropathology and Brain Research at the University Hospital of Leipzig, which was also published in 2021.
“Although there is still little research on self-touching, such evidence suggests that touching one’s own face can alleviate stress.”

Joe Navarro, a former FBI behavioural analyst, explains in Psychology Today magazine that the reasons for this preference lie in the anatomy of our body.
Our faces are particularly rich in sensitive nerve endings that are directly connected to the brain. These nerves – in particular the fifth (trigeminal nerve) and seventh cranial (facial nerve) nerves – enable touch on the face to reach the brain faster and more effectively than on other parts of the body.
A gentle stroke across the cheek or a touch on the lips sends calming signals to the brain at lightning speed. This instant effect is crucial because we need quick relief, especially in stressful moments. Touching your face calms the brain and helps restore inner balance.
It also gives others an indication of what is going on inside, whether someone is stressed and needs support, according to Navarro.
“So the next time your partner or colleague is frequently touching their nose, feel free to ask if everything is all right,” advises Packheiser.
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Do you touch your face a lot? Your body might be trying to tell you something

You touch your face more times each day than you realise. If you do it more than usual, your body could be telling you that you are stressed. Research suggests that touching one’s own face can alleviate stress. Photo: Shutterstock

Touching your face calms the brain and helps restore inner balance. Photo: Shutterstock

A gentle stroke across the cheek sends calming signals to the brain at lightning speed. Photo: Shutterstock

In a study, touching oneself or touching others before a stressful situation was linked to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the blood afterwards. Photo: Shutterstock 

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Health & Wellness

Health

You touch your face more times each day than you realise. If you do it more than usual, your body could be telling you that you are stressed


You touch your face more times each day than you realise. If you do it more than usual, your body could be telling you that you are stressed.


Mental health

Do you touch your face a lot? Your body might be trying to tell you something

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}You touch your face more times each day than you realise. If you do it more than usual, your body could be telling you that you are stressed

You touch your face more times each day than you realise. If you do it more than usual, your body could be telling you that you are stressed