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.
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