Can a massage save the world? Maybe not, but it can definitely make a difference in your world. Welcome back everyone! As you can tell, today’s post is all about the benefits of massage. Whether it’s deep tissue, lymphatic, or Swedish massage, massage or massage therapy is an old practice that comes with many benefits that stand the test of time. Ready to find a reason (or two!) to book your next appointment? Then read on!

Recovery

Both the average exerciser and elite-level athletes can benefit from a massage. It relieves any tightness, tension, or soreness that could effect performance, both on the field and at the gym. There’s even a special type of massage known as Sports Massage that is designed to address the common areas that need the most work for a particular sport (football, dance, martial arts, etc). It’s also used as a healing therapy for injuries, helping athletes to bounce back, recover, and go back to their sport as good as new. As for regular exercisers out there (whether it’s at the ZGYM or elsewhere), regular massages also prevent injuries, boost recovery, and relieve any soreness that could come from challenging workouts (probably something like my Summer Shred!).

Mental Health

In the past, I’ve written about both the good and the bad sides of stress. When it comes to the not-so-good aspects, such as the kind that starts to trickle and impact our lives, it’s important to find healthy ways to deal with it. Rather than resort to addictions or bad habits such as drinking, one of the better alternatives to relieving stress is through massage. How so? It teaches you how to let go in order to relieve tension. And the time you’re spending is ultimately meant to be in a state of relaxation. In doing so, you’re naturally lowering stress and stress hormones like cortisol as the therapist quite literally soothes your tensions away.

Massage also help to ease depression. A meta-analysis covering seventeen trials showed that in depressed subjects, massage therapy treatment was associated with significantly lower rates of symptoms of depression. [1] So, if you’ve got the time and money, consider booking a session to help improve your mood. Really, it can. Research from the International Journal of Neuroscience shows that massages helped reduce cortisol  levels by up to 31% while increasing both dopamine and serotonin (feel-good hormone) levels by 30%. [2] (I don’t know about you, but I would have loved to have been a test subject for that study!)

Bonus:

Another cool fact about massage is that it also improves the way your brain handles stress. FMRI studies show that during a massage, blood flow increases to specific regions of the brain that are connected to mood and stress. According to director Tiffany Field of University of Miami’s Touch Research Institute, “Pressure receptors under the skin, when stimulated, increase vagal activity.” [3] For my fellow gut health enthusiasts, the vagus nerve plays a pivotal role in our digestion, as well as heart rate, exercise recovery, breathing, and of course, mood. Thanks to this nerve, we  not only can properly manage our stress, we can also maintain the parasympathetic state of rest and digest where we can optimally digesting our food and avoid locking up in a stressful sympathetic state of fight or flight.

Aches and Pains

Sure, massages are seen as a luxurious indulgence, but for some people, they’re more than just pampering. They’re powerful pain relievers. And by pain, I mean the pain that comes as a result of a chronic condition. This includes fibromyalgia, arthritis, and degeneration or problems with joints. Licensed massage therapist from the American Massage Therapy Association Nancy M. Porambo states that, “My personal experience working with clients suffering from [this type of pain] has been extremely positive. People… are surprised when they find relief through application of specific massage therapy techniques.”

The relief also extends to life-threatening diseases, including cancer. Research published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine shows that patients diagnosed with metastic cancer have an improved quality of life with regular massage therapy, experiencing better and deeper sleep and notable pain reduction. [5]

In addition to providing pain relief, massage can also help to lower both the intensity or frequency of migraines. Preliminary research from the University of Auckland shows that migraine sufferers have better sleep and fewer migraines, anxiety, and high levels of cortisol with regular massage therapy. [6]

Finally, massage has also been shown to provide some amount of relief from back pain. In yet another study I think we all would have loved to have been involved in, a whopping 400 adults with moderate to intense lower back pain were prescribed 10 weeks of weekly massages. At the end of the study, the participants reported less back pain and better function. [7]

Wellness

This section is just going to be a hodgepodge of benefits, since there’s just too much to fully get into. (If you’d like to know more about them on your own, then I’ll refer you to the following link here from the American Massage Therapy Association.) When it comes to your well-being, it’s important to regularly commit to self-care. And massages are one of the best self-care practices out there. Now, you don’t necessarily have to do it every day or even every week. But doing so every now and then provides a number of benefits, including:

• Better range of motion and flexibility
• Relief from fatigue
• Reduced nausea (especially in patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment)
• Improved quality of life (for the average Joe to caregivers, nurses, and hospital patients)

Final Thoughts

There you have it, everyone! Some benefits to massage that I think most of us can get behind. Just for fun, I’d love for you to describe the best massage you’ve ever had! Otherwise, feel free to let me know if you were aware of any of these benefits, and what more you’d like to see here on the blog! I love your feedback and appreciate it every time you share.

Sources:

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20361919
[2] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207450590956459
[3] https://time.com/5085140/massage-health-benefits/
[4] https://www.rd.com/health/beauty/benefits-of-massage/
[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23368724
[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16827629
[7] https://www.webmd.com/back-pain/news/20110705/study-massage-helps-treat-low-back-pain#1