Massage is one of the world’s oldest wellness tools. People from all over the world have relieved stress and pain through massage therapy. In the past decade or so, research has shown that stress relief massages also help manage various health conditions.
With all of the world’s concerns today, people continue to look for new ways to find relief from stress and pain. The question is: how can massage therapy help you?
Below are just a few reasons you should re-invest in yourself with a massage.
Reduced Muscle Tension
When stress builds up in your body, your muscles can tense up. This is because your body wants to deal with whatever causes you stress. Muscles tense up when preparing you for sudden bursts of action. They also become stiff from being tensed too much of the time.
A massage can help your muscles relax, which makes your whole body relax. While other treatments can also aid in muscle relaxation, massages do so using human touch. Your body will respond more strongly to touch than other medications, giving you more relief.
Best of all, your mind tends to relax when your body relaxes. You don’t have to get a high-pressure massage to relax. Your nervous system notices any amount of pressure and tells your body to relax more, adding to the benefits of a massage!
Lowers Anxiety and Depression
When left untreated, stress can lead to disorders like anxiety and depression. Medication may not always be enough, especially if you are stressed about school, children, loneliness, or other long-term stressors.
According to the latest research, an hour-long massage can lower levels of cortisol in the body. Cortisol is a hormone that your body produces in response to various stressors (like those mentioned above).
When cortisol levels are lowered via massage, another amazing thing happens: your body churns out more serotonin, the body’s natural mood stabilizer. Serotonin can also help with eating, sleeping, and other daily functions.
Best of all: serotonin helps reduce depression and control anxiety symptoms. You’ll feel better all-around after even a short massage!
Helps You Recover After an Injury
Physical rehabilitation is the most commonly prescribed treatment for an injury. But what do you do with the stress of rehabilitation?
Massage relief can play a major role in injury rehabilitation. Massages can help with your mobility both short-term and long-term. They also help with stiffness, another common symptom of injury.
Massaging the muscles promotes circulation, allowing oxygen and other nutrients to enter via the bloodstream. Over time, you’ll find that injuries and wounds heal faster, too!
Even people with serious burns seek stress-relieving massages for their many benefits! Itching, depression, and general discomfort can overwhelm burn patients. Ongoing massages can help ease these and other symptoms with lasting results.
Strengthens Your Immune System
You might think that massage benefits only help you on the outside. The benefits of massages go beyond your skin and muscles, all the way into your white blood cells.
A study found that HIV patients who got regular massages for a month had stronger immune systems than those who didn’t get regular massages. The massages encouraged the body to make more protective cells. Natural “killer” cells also worked harder after regular attention via massage therapy.
If you get sick a lot or have a chronic condition, you can talk to your doctor about other possible healing qualities of massages. You may want to try massage therapy out for yourself!
Improves Posture
If you’re always leaning over your computer, it could result in back pain or discomfort. Lumbar pain can make sitting uncomfortable. Discomfort can be distracting, creating points of stress in your back.
While you may not be able to avoid sitting at a desk all day, you can help undo some of the bad habits that come with it.
Health massages can help to correct your posture by loosening stress points along your spine. The massage also helps by gently creating pressure in the right areas, including the neck, back, and glutes.
Another benefit of massages on posture? They help neglected body parts move naturally, so you can sit at your desk pain-free. You can also use massages to treat soreness from sitting in one position for too long.
Encourages Connection and Empathy
When under stress, our body misses out on the release of important chemicals like serotonin and dopamine. As a result, our emotional well-being suffers, leaving us low on empathy. And when we are low on empathy, our relationships suffer.
Massage benefits include increased happy chemicals, including oxytocin and endorphins. They can be activated by touch – even that of a stranger.
When you get a massage, you may not think about the consequences of knowledge-based massage. When a professional manipulates the skin, they are working your nervous system.
Your brain responds immediately to touch, especially touch that relieves pain. To create more specific results, professionals may also manipulate the skin using heat, different strokes, vibration, or even pain (do not try this one at home).
Improves Blood Flow
Massages naturally improve circulation in the body. Blood helps give your body the right chemicals and nutrients and carries out anything bad. In other words, better circulation means better all-around physical health.
A favorite benefit of massage therapy is its ability to help treat high blood pressure. High blood pressure is considered a silent killer due to its lack of symptoms. The good news? You’ll notice positive symptoms after just one massage.
A health massage helps naturally lower your blood pressure. If used on a regular basis, you can lower your systolic and diastolic numbers considerably. Over time, you may find that your blood pressure medicine is more effective, as well.
Stress Relief Massages: A Step Towards Better Health
Don’t let stress or chronic pain get you down. A professional can help you find lasting relief with the latest techniques. Before you know it, you’ll be hooked on that post-massage feeling.
It’s fast and easy to book your massage. Say hello to health and happiness with stress relief massages!
