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1. Massage reducing anxiety and improving
alertness.
There are now a number of research papers demonstrating the
beneficial effects of massage therapy in relation to the
physiological and psycho-logical aspects of stress (see
ALTERNATIVES in health TM Vol 1:2 and Vol 1:5) and the latest
controlled study conducted at the Touch Research Institute,
University of Miami School of Medicine, Florida, USA shows once
again that massage threrapy has an important role to play in the
alleviation of stress and stress-induced illnesses.
In the study two times every week for five weeks, 26 adults were
given a chair massage and 24 adults were asked to relax in a
massage chair for 15 minutes to be used as controls.
On the first and last days of the study all of the participants were
monitored for EEG, before, during and after the sessions. In
addition, before and after the sessions they performed math
computations, they completed POMS Depression and State
Anxiety Scales and they provided a saliva sample for cortisol.
At the beginning of the sessions they completed Life Events, Job
Stress and Chronic POMS Depression Scales. The results
revealed the following:
1. Frontal delta power increased for both groups, suggesting
relaxation;
2. The massage group showed decreased frontal alpha and beta
power (suggesting enhanced alertness);while the control group
showed increased alpha and beta power;
3. The massage group showed increased speed and accuracy on
math computations while the control group did not change.
4. Anxiety levels were lower following the massage but not the
control sessions, although mood state was less depressed
followin both the massage and control sessions;
5. Salivary cortisol levels were following the massage but not the
control sessions but only on the first day; and
6. At the and of the five week period, depression scores were
lower for both groups but job stress score were lower only
for the massage group.
This small-scale study suggests that massage therapy offers
benefits in not just alleviating the physiological effects of anxiety,
but also improving mental allertness.
Field T; Ironson G; Scafjdi F; Nawrocki T; Goncalves A; Burman I; Pickens J; Fox N;
Schanberg; Kuhn C. Massage therapy reduces anxiety and enhances EEG pattern of
allertness and math computations. mi Neurosci (ENGLAND ) Sep 1996, 86 (3-4) p 197-205.
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