We have been exploring various ways (chiropractic, acupuncture, naturopathic medicine) to keep your immune system rocking and rolling as the temperatures start to drop and that pesky cold and flu season settles in. Another, unassuming way to bolster your internal protective mechanisms is through touch. Not just any touch, but the trained hands of a massage therapist. Massage therapy has been scientifically proven to help the immune system in a couple of ways.
First of all, it is a tremendous stress reducer. “What we are finding is that when you stimulate pressure receptors on the skin, you cause an increase in vagal activity. This slows down the physiology (heart rate, blood pressure, etc), and it slows down the production of stress hormones, particularly cortisol”, states Tiffany Field, Ph.D., director of the Touch Research Institutes at the University of Miami School of Medicine. Cortisol’s is a stress hormone released by the adrenal glands that initiates the “fight or flight” response in the nervous system, among a myriad of other functions in the body. When cortisol levels are slowed or reduced the parasympathetic nervous system is more engaged, the body is in a more calm and peaceful state with less stress – thus the body, and immune system, is able to perform as it should. Cortisol also destroys natural killer cells that fight off bacteria and viruses in the body, so less cortisol means more good guys on our immunity team!
Secondly, massage also boosts the immune system directly by increasing the number of white blood cells which are the backbone of the immune system. In particular massage is linked to lymphocytes which make up about 25% of the white blood cell count in humans. A famous study by researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles recruited 53 healthy adults and assigned them a 45 minute session of deep-tissue massage. To their surprise, the subjects experienced significant decreases in blood and saliva cortisol levels, AND an increase in lymphocytes. Another study published by the International Journal of Neuroscience found that HIV patients showed white blood cell levels increased after receiving two 20-minute massages per week for 12 weeks.
Massage is the perfect preventative medicine to add to your repertoire of a balanced diet, exercise, rest and relaxation – all of which will keep you strong and healthy throughout the year! .
