FIVE REASONS TO GET A MASSAGE TODAY Massage offers real health benefits, so much so that some conventional hospitals are making them a standard therapy for surgery patients and others. Along with promoting relaxation and improving your sense of well-being, getting a massage has been shown to: 1. Relieve pain (from migraines, labor, fibromyalgia and even cancer) 2. Boost your level of alertness and attention 3. Increase your bodys natural killer cells, which help your immune system to defend against illness 4. Reduce stress, anxiety and depression, and ease insomnia 5. Decrease symptoms of PMS If youve never had a professional massage before, it will likely only take you one visit to understand why theyre becoming so popular: they feel great! This is because massage affects the nervous system through nerve endings in the skin, stimulating the release of endorphins, the bodys natural feel good chemicals. Massage is one of the oldest and simplest forms of medical care used to ease pain and anxiety, and massages have profound health benefits. Endorphins help induce relaxation and a sense of well-being, relieve pain and reduce levels of stress chemicals such as cortisol and noradrenaline -- reversing the damaging effects of stress by slowing heart rate, respiration and metabolism and lowering raised blood pressure. Stronger massage stimulates blood circulation to improve the supply of oxygen and nutrients to body tissues and helps the lymphatic system to flush away waste products. It eases tense and knotted muscles and stiff joints, improving mobility and flexibility. Massage is said to increase activity of the vagus nerve, one of 10 cranial nerves, that affects the secretion of food absorption hormones, heart rate and respiration. It has proven to be an effective therapy for a variety of health conditions -- particularly stress-related tension, which experts believe accounts for as much as 80 percent to 90 percent of disease. In addition to the benefits listed above, massage can: • Stimulate the lymph system, the bodys natural defense, against toxic invaders. • Relax and soften injured and overused muscles, reducing spasms and cramping. • Provide arthritis relief by increasing joint flexibility. • Reduce recovery time for strenuous workouts and eliminate subsequent pains of the athlete at any level. • Reduce post-surgery adhesions and edema and reduce and realign scar tissue after healing has occurred. • Contribute to shorter labor and reduce tearing for expectant mothers. TAKE HOME MESSAGE How often you should get a massage depends on your needs, your budget and your stress levels. AS AFOREMENTIONED, massage has significant health benefits that are best experienced when you get massage regularly. Once a month is probably the minimum for maintaining the health of your tissue. If you start stretching the massages out too far, then your muscles can revert to their old patterns and youll have to start all over again to restore their suppleness and pliancy. Make sure you find a good massage therapist that you feel comfortable with and whose style you like. You might even want to have a few different therapists you can call on. They all have their own styles and specialities. Sometimes your body might need a vigorous deep tissue massage and sometimes something gentler, like craniosacraltherapy (a form of therapeutic touch that addresses imbalances in the craniosacral system -- the membranes and fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Always consult a health care professional before getting onto any supplement or heeding to any fitness advice. Precaution is always better than cure. People have many underlying medical conditions that can worsen and prove to be detrimental if one acts without proper medical consultation.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 19:08:25 +0000
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