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Massage therapy has been a well-revered practice for thousands of years now. Like any other field, massage therapy is also advancing every year, and new benefits are being added to massage therapy each year.
If you have ever received a massage, you have probably noticed that afterward, you feel very relaxed and healthy. This relaxation is due to the myriad of mental health benefits that massage therapy can impart to you.
Mental stress is a condition that no one is entirely safe from; if you feel that your situation has taken a turn for the worst, you need to visit a therapist. Other than that, you can take your measures to alleviate the stress and feel completely relaxed and refreshed.
One of these measures is massage therapy, and a lot of research is going into proving how amazing the mental health benefits genuinely are. Here are some of the most potent benefits massage therapy can have on you:
Reduces Anxiety and Depression
I understand that when we are feeling depressed or anxious, our very first thought probably does not include going for a massage. But maybe a massage is something we should add in our self-care routine for relieving the symptoms of anxiety and depression.
There is much research available on how massages have shown to relieve symptoms of these two conditions in subjects.
One theory that we have included how massages regulate the release of hormones and neurotransmitters in our mind and body and this regulation results in relief from these symptoms.
Scientists suggest that massage therapy helps in increasing levels of serotonin and dopamine in the blood. These are hormones that combat depression and anxiety and help us feel better.
Relieves Daily Stress
The stress of our daily lives keeps piling up unless we do something to release it now and then. If we do not release the stress of our routine life, it transforms into depression and anxiety. So it is better to nip it in the bud and getting rid of it while it is still just stress.
The best way you can relieve this stress without spending too much time away from work is by having a spa day. Go for a relaxing spa day with one of your buddies and ask for their best therapeutic massages.
The oils that the masseuse uses in their therapeutic massages are known for releasing stress from our body and making us feel better. These oils include lavender, chamomile and CBD massage oil, check this page.; all these are known for inducing a sense of calm in the person receiving the treatment.
There is scientific evidence backing up these claims as well. There is a hormone in our body called cortisol which is the stress hormone in our blood. As this hormone increases, the stress we have on our mind and body also increases. To bring the levels of this cortisol back to normal, making the use of massages is a great idea.
Once you get rid of the stress from your daily life, you can go back to work with a fresh mind and body and tackle the entire job you have remaining with a better attitude.
Research has also shown that when workers receive massages regularly, they work more efficiently than workers who don’t get regular massages.
Improves Your Mood
Massages play a prominent role in elevating our mood. I remember going on vacation to the Maldives a couple of years back with my best friend. We lay in the sun, sipping from coconuts, and then got massages from their professional masseuses.
It was one of the best days of my life because I genuinely wished that that massage never ended. I could almost feel the masseuse kneading the happiness in my skin.
After the massage was over, I remember being happy and energetic for the rest of the day as well.
So this way, I concluded that massage therapy is also great for improving the mood. There is apparently some scientific basis for this claim. Professional therapeutic masseurs know all the pressure points of our body.
They massage these pressure points to stimulate the production of hormones called endorphins in the bloodstream. Endorphins are essentially feel-good hormones that help us be happy and energized. So once they release in our body, we automatically feel much better than we did before.
Helps You Sleep Better
People who suffer from mental health issues complain about not being able to get enough restful sleep. You may have seen people who suffer from depression that sleep all day long and you might think that this claim is untrue.
But remember that people who suffer from depression sleep to get away from their daily life and that sleep isn’t happy or restful at all.
Anxiety sufferers, on the other hand, are usually unable to sleep at all because they cannot escape their vicious thoughts.
Massages often make your body believe that it is undergoing physical exertion; the kind we experience during heavy, intense exercise usually. This exertion helps us stay active all day, but at night, it makes us feel tired and that we should go to bed.
When a person willingly goes to bed after a tiring and productive day, the sleep that takes him or her over is usually extremely restful.
After a person wakes up from an exceptionally restful period of sleep, he feels better and more able to tackle the daily tasks of his or her day.
Regulates Blood Flow
Regulating the flow of blood in your body improves the working of all your organs as well. One of the reasons we feel miserable during times of mental exertion is that, the functioning of most of our organs becomes inefficient and we feel generally unwell. We often feel bloated or nauseatic, both of which promote a feeling of illness and misery.
Massages promote a general feeling of wellness. This feeling helps us cope better with life throughout the day, and it also makes us feel more content with ourselves.
