Joel Cuello
Professor Harrison
English 101-057
18 October 2008
TOUCHED
To put the hand, finger, etc., on or into contact with (something) to feel it is how touch is defined by dictionary.com. While your other four senses (sight, hearing, smell, and taste) are located in specific parts of the body, your sense of touch is found all over. Touch receptors are located in clusters around your skin. They look like onions or jelly material. The organ that is most associated with touch is the skin. Your skin is one of your bodies largest and most complex organs. A layer of skin, usually only about 5 mm thick, is the only protection that the insides of our body have against the harsh environment all around us. Our skin acts as the protective barrier between our internal body systems and the outside world. The most sensitive touch receptors are located at your face, back of your neck, chest, arm (upper), fingers, soles of your feet, and between your legs. This is because your sense of touch originates in the bottom layer of your skin called the dermis. The dermis is filled with many tiny nerve endings which give you information about the things with which your body comes in contact. They do this by carrying the information to the spinal cord, which sends messages to the brain where the feeling is registered.
The nerve endings in your skin can tell you if something is hot or cold. They can also feel if something is hurting you. Your body has about twenty different types of nerve endings that all send messages to your brain. However, the most common receptors are heat, cold, pain, and pressure or the usual touch receptors. Pain receptors are probably the most important for your safety because they can protect you by warning your brain that your body is hurt!
There are some areas of the body that are more sensitive than others because they have more nerve endings. Have you ever bitten your tongue and wondered why it hurt so much? It is because the sides of your tongue have a lot of nerve endings that are very sensitive to pain. Even though, your tongue is sensitive it is not as good at sensing hot or cold. That is why it is easy to burn your mouth when you eat something really hot. Your fingertips are also very sensitive. The sense of touch get heighten and more sensitive when losing your eye sight. For example, people who are blind use their fingertips to read Braille by feeling the patterns of raised dots on their paper.
The skin is composed of several layers. The very top layer is the epidermis and is the layer of skin you can see. In Latin, the prefix “epi-” means “upon” or “over.” So the epidermis is the layer upon the dermis (the dermis is the second layer of skin). Made of dead skin cells, the epidermis is waterproof and serves as a protective wrap for the underlying skin layers and the rest of the body. (hometrainingtools.com)
The second layer of skin is the dermis. The dermis contains hair follicles, sweat glands, sebaceous (oil) glands, blood vessels, nerve endings, and a variety of touch receptors. Its primary function is to sustain and support the epidermis by diffusing nutrients to it and replacing the skin cells that are shed off the upper layer of the epidermis. (hometrainingtools.com)
The bottom layer is the subcutaneous tissue which is composed of fat and connective tissue. The layer of fat acts as an insulator and helps regulate body temperature. It also acts as a cushion to protect underlying tissue from damage when you bump into things. (hometrainingtools.com)
It is one of our most basic forms of communication, from a hand shake all the way to sex. Without our sense of touch, it would be very hard to get around in this world! Touch is the first sense we experience in the womb and the last one we lose before death.
Goal Statement
The goals that I want to set for this particular essay are that I want you Julie to further understand how your sense of touch works, and how your skin is involved in that sense. By using an informative essay I will give you facts that I have learned in class and some sources from the internet to help you understand everything about touch.
I think I achieved my goal by providing you with enough facts to have a clear understanding about your skin. Now that you know about your skin you should be able to see how your sense of touch works. I want to know what can I take out the essay and any other thing I can put into the essay, while still keeping it informal?
Work Cited
“Touch.” Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 30 Oct. 2008. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/touch>.
“Sense of Touch”. Home Training Tools, Ltd. 10-20-2008 <http://www.hometrainingtools.com/articles/skin-touch.html>.
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