hands on

Touch not only feels good but is great for your health, the newest science shows. Here’s how to take advantage of its powerful benefits, including better sleep, less stress, and stronger immunity.

TEXT MIREL ZAMAN

The connection between touch and mental and physical well-being is extremely potent, according to research. Touch stimulates the vagus nerve, which has branches running through your entire body. “The nerve’s primary role is to slow the nervous system,” says Tiffany Field, the director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. “As a result, your heart rate goes down, your blood pressure drops, and your stress-hormone levels fall.” These effects have a huge impact on your health, studies have found. In Tiffany’s research on adults with illnesses like AIDS and cancer, massage therapy was shown to boost participants’ natural killer cells, which attack bacterial, viral, and cancer cells. Because of the calming effect of touch, massages can improve sleep patterns, allowing you to spend more time…

You're reading a preview of

Shape Singapore (Digital) - 1 Issue, August/September 2019

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.