Here we begin with the discussion of tattoos. Yes, it is art on one’s skin and it consists of many shapes, colors, meanings, quotes, etc. Here we go…the now 18 year old adult asks his or her parents about whether he or she should get a tattoo. The 18 year old knows what he or she wants and the placement, but most of the time…it is all about the answer. For all of you concerned parents who are debating on saying “Yes,” or “No,” think about it. Tattoos are possibly good for your child’s health and it could boost his or her immune system! It looks awesome (depending on the tattoo) and makes the body feel awesome (after the painful experience of course)!
This (gif) was from rebloggy and shows how the immune system begins to repair the skin immediately during a tattoo.
Initially, the null hypothesis within this article will be that tattoos do not boost the immune system and the regular hypothesis is that tattoos do boost the immune system. This article online by Tech times discusses how getting “inked,” is the way to go. There was an experiment conducted at a tattoo shop by the University of Alabama and they asked for tatted students to participate within the experiment. They checked how many tattoos each student had and took saliva samples from each student to test “stress hormones” and and “Antibody immunoglobulin A.” After conducting the experiment and running the tests, the students with the most tattoos only had a slight drop in the “Antibody immunoglobulin A,” unlike the students who only had 1 or 2 tattoos. Which means…their immune systems were stronger!
According to this journal article online, it displays an experiment conducted with 24 women and 5 men between the ages of 18 to 47. The experimenters were testing immunoglobulin A and Cortisol in saliva and stated beforehand that the levels of both would be an inverse relationship if one had more tattoos. After the tests, they concluded that the individuals who have tattoos have a healthier immune system and tend to “heal” more. Which would make individuals want to achieve more tattoos on their bodies? In this article online, Anthropology Professor from UA, Dr Christopher Lynn stated, “Our bodies become stronger and every tattoo one receives, his or her body is under a lot of stress and his or her body will then adapt to it over time.”
Based on the data and experiments tested, one can conclude that yes, tattoos do boost the immune system and the null hypothesis will be rejected. So when you really think about it…the more, the merrier. The more tattoos one gets, the more the body will get used to stressors and avoid a weak immune system.
Sources Below:
@TechTimes_News. “Getting Multiple Tattoos May Boost Your Immune System.” Tech Times RSS. N.p., 10 Mar. 2016. Web. 21 Oct. 2016. <http://www.techtimes.com/articles/139962/20160310/getting-multiple-tattoos-boosts-up-your-immune-system.htm>.
Http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/reporters/lea-surugue. “Tattoos Fight off Infections: How Body Art Boosts the Body’s Immune Response.” International Business Times RSS. N.p., 15 Mar. 2016. Web. 21 Oct. 2016. <http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/tattoos-fight-off-infections-how-body-art-boosts-bodys-immune-response-1549600>.
Lynn, Christopher D., Johanna T. Domingues, and Jason A. DeCaro. “Tattooing to “Toughen Up”: Tattoo Experience and Secretory Immunoglobulin A.” Http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com. N.p., 4 Mar. 2016. Web. 21 Oct. 2016. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajhb.22847/full>.
“Getting Multiple Tattoos May Boost Your Immune System, But There’s A Catch.” Indiatimes.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2016. <http://www.indiatimes.com/culture/who-we-are/getting-multiple-tattoos-may-boost-your-immune-system-but-there-s-a-catch-255033.html>.
This was interesting because I’ve been struggling to convince my mom to let me get a tattoo. Her issues are that it could easily get infected on college with so many germs lingering in the dorms. It might not heal well. I read an article that talked about similar things you did. It says that you have a stress response when you get a tattoo and it actually makes you more susceptible to getting sick. But after that response goes away, your body returns to equilibrium. Your body becomes better at fighting off sickness at that point.
Here’s the article: http://www.obsev.com/life/ink-redible-tattoos-are-actually-beneficial-your-health.html
It amazing how tattoos can possibly have an effect on our immune system, however, I believe that there should be meta analyses and replication in order to have stronger evidence of that. Also, the study does not take into consideration that there are many health issues in the line when you decide to have a tattoo.An article from the Mayo Clinic suggests that there are too many risks since people do not actually know their reaction towards the ink that will be used. Also it is not safe since there can be allergic reactions and nobody actually knows if the ink used will transmit a disease or not. Even though this study shows some positive effects of tattoos I believe that it should not change the way in which you look at tattoos. There is not strong evidence that it boosts the immune system and the study disregards confounding variables such as the place in which the tattoo is made.
Saw this blog and thought that it was interesting, mainly because I have three tattoo’s. While know that tattoo’s do age and fade because of the body’s attempt at breaking down the ink and metal particles, I never really expected it to actually help boost the efficiency of the immunity system. If anything, I thought that it would negatively affect the immune system because since your body see’s the ink as a foreign body, your antibody’s would be more focused on something that can be seen as permanent threat.
I had never thought of a tattoo as having health benefits. Anytime I though of a tattoo I remembered my elementary school teach telling me not to write on myself because it could be poisonous. After reading your article i decided to do some research and I found that there are many potential risks to getting tattoos include toxins getting into your bloodstream through the ink. You can read more about it here.
http://healthimpactnews.com/2015/think-before-you-ink-the-little-known-risks-of-tattoos/
As someone with tattoos I found this post to be really interesting. I had never considered the potential effect getting a tattoo could have on my immune system. I was a bit disappointed to see how small the test group was. I don’t think I am willing to make decisions based on a study that only 29 people participated in. I wish the study included a few more people. I was also curious as to how soon after receiving tattoos this study was conducted. I think in a study this small you cannot rule out third variables or chance.
I scrolled down the course blog and stopped at yours because the topic of tattoos was striking to me. It never occurred to me that ink could have a correlation to our immune system. I was surprised to find your research, as I didn’t actually think results would significantly show people with tattoos have stronger immune systems. Even though I find them cool, I wouldn’t hear the end of it from my parents if I got a tattoo. But my friend actually just got a tattoo, so I will tell her about this blog post!