Massage techniques may calm your nervous system, study suggests

This study looked at whether a specific sequence of manual therapy (like massage) can change the activity of the autonomic nervous system, which controls things like heart rate and stress. 96 healthy adults took part in a double-blind trial where some received the therapy and others did not. The goal was to measure changes in heart rate and heart rate variability to see if the therapy could increase relaxation (parasympathetic activity) and decrease stress (sympathetic activity).