It’s a hard-driving world out there. One where it seems that adults and kids are pushed to the limit constantly.
Add to that the relational disconnect brought on by the technology age, and you have a recipe for chronic physical and mental health problems.
But there’s a UHealth researcher who’s helping us to rediscover a simple but profound cure. Tiffany Field, Ph.D., has been working with the National Institutes of Health, the March of Dimes, and several corporations on documenting the effect of touch and how it can be part of a medical treatment plan for many health conditions.
She’s been part of more than 100 studies on the power of touch at the University of Miami School of Medicine and Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Now, we all know someone who will be quick to give us a comforting hug when we’re under the weather, and Dr. Field says there’s really something beneficial to that as a long as it’s a good, hearty hug. “A-frame” hugs, she said, won’t cut it.
“If it’s a flimsy hug, it’s not good. All of this is about stimulating pressure receptors,” she said, “and we know this because we’ve compared moderate pressure massage with light pressure, and the only thing that works is moderate pressure. That puts you in a relaxed state and leads to all kinds of biological and physiological effects.”
Blood pressure and heart rate fall, for example. Stress hormones decline, she said, which enhances the activity of the natural killer cells in your body that take on things like bacterial infections and cancer. And serotonin, the body’s natural pain reliever and mood enhancer, increases.
Basically, all you have to do is move your skin, and lots of things will work – a back rub, rolling a tennis ball across your limbs, fast walking, yoga, etc.
Oh, and it works if you move your own skin, too. Field said she teaches self-massage to her patients, who seem to benefit greatly. One study showed a 58% reduction in headache days for those migraine patients who simply massaged the napes of their own necks.
It’s fascinating – and timely – stuff. You can learn more about Dr. Tiffany Field and her work at the UHealth website.
Click here to listen to the full interview.