8 Benefits Of Massages You Need To Know About
Massage is a type of therapy that has grown in popularity over the last few decades. Though it was once considered a luxury, or something of a fringe type of therapy, it’s now more mainstream than ever before.
Why get a massage?
With each passing year, more and more people are beginning to understand the physical and mental benefits of massages.
But what are these benefits?
Let’s take a closer look at some of the reasons it might be time for you to book a massage session.
8 Benefits Of Massages You Need To Know About
Are you looking for a relaxing way to take care of stress and pain? Getting a massage can help rejuvenate your body and spirit. Here are 8 benefits of massages you need to know about.
1. Stress Reduction
One of the most important benefits of massage is how it produces a greater feeling of relaxation and calm in your body. Massage is a great way to reduce physical and emotional stress, releasing endorphins as is reduces stress-inducing hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, and norepinephrine.
It’s simply amazing the impact a massage session can have on both the mind and body. You don’t realize how much your body holds onto stress until you experience the release of toxins as your muscles are rubbed.
2. Heightening Mental Alertness
It’s truly amazing how getting a massage can immediately clear away mental fogginess. As stress-inducing hormones are released and a feeling of calm begins to settle in, metal clarity arises, and suddenly the world looks like a different place.
3. Releasing Muscle Tension and Pain
The human body has many trigger points that get stiff and sore, prohibiting proper blood flow. Massages are a perfect way to stretch and elongate muscles, breaking down adhesions so that blood can flow to tissue and release tension. Massage is not only an effective way to alleviate pain, it also oxygenates cells and eliminates toxins.
4. Improving Skin Tone
Believe it or not, a body massage can actually have a positive impact on your skin tone. This happens because massage reduces tension in the skin and other adjoining tissue. This is great for helping to increase circulation.
When circulation is increased in and under the skin, this encourages cell regeneration and aids in the nutrition cycle.
Another benefit of massage for the skin is it stimulates sebum production, which improves suppleness by moisturizing and softening your dry skin.
5. Soothing Depression and Anxiety
We can all agree that stress is an inevitable part of life. It’s impossible to avoid, and research even suggests that a significant amount of illness results from stress.
Because of this, simply decreasing emotional and physical stress is one of the most effective things you can do to improve your overall health and well-being.
Very few things in the world help reduce anxiety and depression as effectively as massage. The stresses of daily life cause your muscles to become tense and hold onto toxins within your muscle tissue. A sixty-minute massage can lower your cortisol levels an average of 30%.
This is vital because by lowering cortisol and increasing serotonin, you can boost your body’s ability to fight anxiety, feelings of sadness, and even increase your body’s ability to deal with pain.
6. Improving Sleep Quality
There are many things that can contribute to a poor quality of sleep. Things like relationship issues, financial problems, stress at work, anxiety, as well as physical pain caused by muscle tension.
Massage is a great way to remedy sleep problems. Regular massage sessions can dramatically improve sleep by triggering the release of serotonin.
This is a neurotransmitter that helps you feel calm. Also, massage eases muscle tension, as well as stiffness in joints that can make it difficult to relax in bed and be comfortable enough to sleep through the night.
The quality of sleep you get at night is a huge contributing factor to how well you function during the day. Good, restful sleep helps fight depression and helps with mental clarity and decision-making. People who get thirty-minute sessions twice a week for over a month slept better and had less pain.
7. Increases Joint Mobility
Massage is an effective way to release muscle tension that builds up around joints, and thus increases your range of motion in your joints. It’s natural for joints to get stiff and sore. This is due to the fact that tissue in and around your joints becomes inflamed and swells.
Regular massage sessions can significantly reduce this inflammation and swelling so that your joints are able to move properly and with as little pain as possible.
8. Improves Posture
Bad posture can be caused by many things, including tension in the neck and shoulders. This is especially true for people who spend lots of time using a computer at work.
Sitting in desk chairs for prolonged periods can cause painful tightening in the lower back. This is a major contributor to poor posture and can have a significant negative impact on your lower back. Remedial massage helps to reduce lower back pain by lengthening your muscles for improved postural alignment.
Experiencing the Benefits of Massage
Many people have simply fallen into the habit of neglecting their bodies. In spite of the obvious benefits of massage, a lot of these people still view it as more of a luxury than as a necessity. This is faulty thinking because the benefits of massage go far beyond the notion of the feeling of being pampered.
As we have noted, there is a huge mental component to massage. As time passes and your body holds onto toxins, the stiffness and soreness of your muscle tissues also take a toll on your mind.
Anyone who has ever had a massage can tell you that it makes you feel like a brand new person. It’s as if massage has a magical ability to hit the reset button and clear your mind and lift your spirits.
Keep reading to see a list of habits for self-improvement.