Boost Your Immune System with Tattoos

In today’s day and age, we are all concerned about our health and well being. Staying healthy both mentally and physically are paramount for anyone. Would you believe that your tattoo obsession could actually be helping to boost your immune system?

Ben Gunn Mantra Tattoo

Christopher Lynn, an anthropologist at the University of Alabama, published research in 2016 suggesting that getting tattooed may boost your body’s immune response and make you less susceptible to infections.  His first study had focused on a small group of women in Alabama but in order to make a more serious correlation, he needed to be able to prove the same response multiple times, in may different situations with many different people. So, in 2018, he traveled to the Samoan Islands to study their immune response to tattooing. Samoans have a traditional, multi-generational history of tattooing over large amounts of their bodies.  Lynn wanted to study Samoans to see if he’d find the same link to enhanced immune response.

Geno Somma Mantra Tattoo
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson Polynesian Tattoo

Innate immune responses involve your bodies reaction to safeguarding against foreign invaders. So that means getting a new tattoo stimulates your immune system to send white blood cells to attack invaders in order to protect against infection. Over time, his study seemed to show that the response to receiving multiple tattoos over time vs. just having one tattoo, teaches the bodies immune system to prepare the body for the next tattoo, which creates a lingering boost in immune function.

James Samuela Traditional Tattooing

The evidence is anecdotal at best. It’s not clearly proven that the benefits tattooing provides are significant enough to make a measurable difference on an individuals heath, so don’t expect to come away with a new tattoo and superhero powers. But there is no doubt that getting tattooed, especially over larger areas repeatedly, is associated with having tough character and that the mind is a powerful thing. Often manifesting what we believe into reality.

At Mantra Tattoo, we have a team of amazing tattoo artists that can help you get the design to suit your personality and individuality. Check their tattoo portfolio to get inspired. You can also come down to the shop to speak with one of our artists and get your new tattoo started today! The shop is open every day and we welcome walk-ins.

Mantra Tattoo

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We learned all about Christopher Lynns experiences in Samoa from an article by The Conversation. You can read more in depth about it here: Untangling Tattoos Influence on Immune Response

Study more about Samoan tattoos (or ‘tatau’ as it is traditionally known) by reading more in depth about them at zealandtattoo.co.nz

Additional Sources: Science American, Science Daily, New Atlas

 

 

 

 

 

 

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