Massage for immune system health

Over the course of COVID,  our use of a variety of rigorous health practices has controlled COVID spread and given us a big reduction in influenza cases during 2020 – but it’s left us with an “unexpected consequence”….

Like many of our body parts, our immune systems have become just a little bit flabby.

So anything you can do to amp up your immune system as we enter the 2021 influenza season is worth considering.

There are all the usual naturopathic approaches – which I’ve written about here.

Then there are others that many people haven’t heard about

Massage has been part of health  care for millenia.   Every culture has included it, from the hot baths of Turkey and Rome to Australia’s ancient indigenous cultures – so that’s 60,000 years of use.

There’s a slowly growing collection of research that indicates that massage can be good for your immune system.

So whether you visit your local massage practitioner or decide to learn a bit about it yourself, consider including massage in your winter self-care.

(If you’d like to learn, then you could always join my next Partners in Touch program.

How does massage help your health along?

Here are some ways it’s useful for our bodies:

• It helps improve the function of your immune system protectors  (your white blood cells).
• It helps reduce inflammation.
• It reduces stress and depression – both of which reduce your immune system capabilities.
• It improves your sense of well-being and levels of positive emotional neurotransmitters (including oxytocin).
• It enhances your ability to connect with yourself and be more self-aware.