Is the last spa treatment a bit back? Then do something good for yourself and your health and let it knead you again! Because researchers have now discovered that massage can even strengthen the immune system.
Foot, spa or tantric massages: you love them, because they are so relaxing and make you forget the hustle and bustle of everyday life for a short time. But massages can do even more: US researchers have now found that they can strengthen the body's defenses.
To be a test person: For the examinations, Mark Rapaport and his team from the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles spoiled 29 healthy subjects with a Swedish massage for 45 minutes. The control group, on the other hand, was only lightly touched on the body. During the entire experiment, participants were bled.
The researchers have discovered in the blood of the massaged people an increased proportion of the body's main defense for white blood cells. In addition, the blood has a lower proportion of the stress hormone cortisol and the hormone aginin vasopressin included. The latter is associated with aggressive behavior.
Since the relaxing and immune-strengthening effects have already occurred after a massage, the researchers hope that in the future, massages will not only be used to prevent illness, but will also be used in the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
Autoimmune diseases cause unpleasant inflammations, because the immune system recognizes the body's own tissue as a foreign body and fights against it.
So if you feel the first signs of a cold in the future, try a massage before going to the pharmacy.
