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The Healing Touch - A Massage a Day Keeps BGs at Bay
Getting a child with diabetes to adhere to his or her BG control regimen can feel like pulling teeth at times. However, recent research shows that something as simple and enjoyable as touch can help kids relieve stress, make them more resistant to disease and improve their BG control.
Indeed touch may be as essential to a child's good health as getting enough rest and eating right. In a soon to be published study, Tiffany Field, PhD, shows that touch therapy has positive effects on a number of diseases affecting children including asthma, skin rashes, insomnia and diabetes.
In Field's study, parents massaged their infants and toddlers for 15 to 20 minutes each night before putting them to bed. The massage technique used in the study consisted of massaging a child's face, neck, head, shoulders, arms, hands, back, legs and feet. The massage technique takes approximately one hour to learn and a few hours to master.
Field, from the Touch Research Institutes at the University of Miami and Nova Southeastern University, notes that the massage has to be given with sufficient pressure to relieve muscle tension in order to affect a child's health. "Light stroking doesn't work," she stresses.
The Healing Touch
It's estimated that up to a third of all diabetic children fail to successfully stick to their medicine, food and exercise regimens. After one month of nightly massages, test subjects with diabetes, "improved compliance with insulin and food regulation and had lower blood glucose levels," researchers say.
In fact, massage's effect on BGs is surprisingly potent. "The average group blood glucose levels dropped from 159 mg/dl to 118 mg/dl after one month of massage therapy," says Field.
Massage therapy also improved pulmonary function in test subjects with asthma, reduced redness and scaling of skin in subjects with atopic dermatitis (a common pediatric skin problem) and had dramatic effects on children with insomnia.
How It Works
Field explains that these results can be attributed primarily to massage's ability to lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone produced by the adrenal gland. Cortisol and the stress that accompanies it have far reaching effects on health.
Peak levels of cortisol are associated with respiratory flare-ups in asthmatics. Stress has been associated with insomnia in children and adults for some time. Stress has also been shown to have negative effects on BG control, and feelings of anxiety and depression may contribute to atopic dermatitis as well.
Other Effects
Field notes that children with a chronic medical condition aren't the only ones who benefit from touch therapy. Touch therapy has been shown to stimulate growth in premature infants as well. "Massage can stimulate nerves in the brain which facilitate food absorption, resulting in faster weight gain," says Field.
Field notes that she has also seen positive effects after massage therapy in adults who suffer from migraine headaches and asthma patients of all ages. In addition, massages lowers levels of cortisol which, "causes stress and puts a damper on immune system function," Field says.
Social Ties to Good Health
Research presented at this year's Annual Meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology shows that massage isn't the only thing that lowers cortisol and improves immune system function.
A recent study by Bruce Rabin, MD, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, shows that a social support system is one of the most effective means of reducing the impact of stress and stress hormones on the immune system.
"Numerous studies have shown that the ability of the cells of the immune system to function is modified by hormones produced by the adrenal gland (cortisol) and the sympathetic nervous system (epinephrine and norepinephrine)," says Rabin. "The higher the concentrations of these hormones, the less ability the immune system has to eliminate infectious agents."
In Rabin's study, college students and elderly subjects were deliberately infected with a cold virus and were monitored to see which ones developed colds. "The more social interactions an individual had, the less likely they were to develop a cold," says Rabin.
Individuals with three or fewer social ties were four times as likely to develop a cold as individuals who had six or more social ties.
Rabin is careful to point out that the quality of the interaction is also important. "Interacting with individuals who create anxiety in one's life is probably not beneficial to the function of the immune system and health. However, the message is clear: loneliness is associated with decreased immune system function and negative (effects) on health," he says.
Researchers also found that psychological stress may increase the likelihood of relapse in patients with autoimmune disease and may actually contribute to the onset of autoimmune diseases.
TLC and BGs
If massage and social interaction could be bottled and sold, they would be powerful medicines indeed. Thanks to the work of Field and Rabin, parents now have a holistic way to help their children with diabetes achieve good control. Their clinical evidence shows that things as simple as a loving touch and spending time with friends and family can heal the mind, spirit and body.
Categories: Blood Glucose, Diabetes, Food, General, Insulin
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Jan 1, 1998
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Diabetes Health
Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues.
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Topics
- Diabetic / Diabetes Health
- Type 1 / 1.5 Diabetes
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Blood Glucose / Sugar
- High/Low Blood Sugar / Fast Acting Glucose
- Insulin- Pumps, Pens & Syringes
- Continuous Glucose Monitors, CGM, Infusion Sets
- Type 2 Medications
- Hyperglycemia
- Hypoglycemia
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