Study: Massage Does a Body Good
The feeling of relaxation following a massage does more for your body than make you sleepy and content, according to recent research.
A massage can improve your overall stress levels and cause significant biological changes, said researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles sponsored by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.Researchers at the hospital recently recruited 53 healthy adults and randomly assigned 29 of them to a 45-minute session of deep-tissue Swedish massage and the other 24 to a session of light massage.
All of the subjects were fitted with intravenous catheters so blood samples could be taken immediately before the massage and up to an hour afterward.
The study results showed that volunteers who received Swedish massage experienced significant decreases in levels of the stress hormone cortisol in both their blood and saliva. They also had increases in the number of lymphocytes, white blood cells that are part of the immune system.
Volunteers who received Swedish massage also experienced increases in the number of lymphocytes, white blood cells that are part of the immune system, greater increases in oxytocin, a hormone associated with contentment and bigger decreases in adrenal corticotropin hormone, which stimulates the adrenal glands to release cortisol, according to the study.
The findings were that a single Swedish massage session had potentially very significant effects long term. Lymphocytes are small white blood cells in the immune system that play a large role in defending the body against disease. These findings are very significant because they may have implications for managing inflammatory and autoimmune conditions.
