10 Surprising Benefits of Massage Therapy for Holistic Health
Whether you are looking for a relaxing way to treat yourself, or for a solution to the pain and muscle tension in your body from either physical activity, or sitting at work for long hours; everybody can reap the benefits of massage therapy.
Your “why” behind getting a massage could be anything because massage therapy has something to offer everybody.
The interesting part is: while massage is recognized as a leisure activity to relax, it has ample other benefits for your overall mental and physical health — a few being better immune function, hormonal balance, joint mobility, and depression prevention. Cool, right?
This blog will introduce you to the marvelous ways in which massage therapy benefits your holistic health and well-being. You might also find the ideal type of massage for you to start with. Keep reading!
1. Stress relief & relaxation
Most massage therapy techniques focus on applying moderate pressure on the tensed areas of the body. This pressure works to calm down the nervous system, slowing the rapid heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and triggering a lasting sense of calm and relaxation.
Massage therapy relieves stress by lowering the cortisol levels in the body that enables the body to enter a recovery mode.
Massages that help:
Swedish Massage: This massage incorporates long gliding strokes along the tensed areas in the body that release all muscle tension, leaving you physically and mentally relaxed.
Aromatherapy massage: With massage techniques similar to a Swedish massage, Aromatherapy massage also involves the use of calming essential oils. The aroma helps you feel deeply relaxed.
Shiatsu massage: This massage is the best for stress and tension relief and leaves you relaxed, by focusing on specific tensed areas in the body and using pressure techniques to release them.
Who can benefit the most?
Individuals with stressful jobs
Parents
Business owners
Students
2. Better sleep
The quality of your sleep is closely linked to the activity in your nervous system - the calmer the nervous system, the better the sleep. As we already discussed, massage does a good job in calming the nervous system down by the slow, steady and focused pressure applied during the session. Thus, getting a massage encourages a restful slumber.
By aiding people to have a comfortable rest, massage also contributes to various other restorative biological functions during sleep that are important for our holistic health: storing new information, organizing nerve cells, repairing cells, releasing hormones and proteins, etc.
Massages that help:
Deep tissue massage: This massage includes focused and slow, but deep strokes to release all muscle knots and tension from the deeper layers of muscle and connective tissue so that your body doesn’t have a hard time going into a comfortable, deep slumber.
Swedish massage: This massage not only has a calming effect on the nervous system that aids sleep, but also helps release muscle tension in certain areas of the body that might be causing discomfort and pain that impedes your sleep.
Who can benefit the most?
Almost everyone, but particularly:
Insomniacs
People with laborious, stressful jobs
Performing artists
3. Pain and muscle tension relief
Before every massage therapy session, your therapist will ask you about some areas where you feel tension and pain in your body. This will help them personalize the massage to your body - treat and open muscle knots, relax tensed muscles and increase the flow of oxygen and nutrients to those areas.
This circulation of blood to stiff areas and damaged or swollen muscles helps in reducing the pain.
Additionally, we know that massage helps in better sleep and good-quality restorative sleep is proven to reduce your levels of a neurotransmitter and modulator of pain called Substance P (SP) which aids in decreasing overall body pain.
Massages that help:
Hot stone massage: This massage heals damaged soft tissues and releases muscle tension by placing hot, basalt stones (130-145 degrees) on specific areas of tension. This method increases blood flow to the tensed areas and reduces muscle spasms.
Back massage: A focused lower back or full back massage helps release all tension stored in the outer muscles of the back while tending to the spinal ligament pain with long, slow strokes and taps on the back. The tension stored by sitting for long hours, lifting heavy weights, etc. can be the reason behind painful muscle spasms in the lower and upper back.
Who can benefit the most?
Insomniacs
People with a 9-5 desk job
People with Arthritis
Inflammation
4. Toxin release and lymphatic drain
When your lymphatic flow is slow, there is a lot of fluid retention in the body that results in swelling (edema) in some areas. This lymph often contains a lot of gross waste that you don’t want to store up in your body.
While working on improving the blood circulation in specific areas, massage therapy is also focused on draining the lymphatic waste in your body. Certain areas where the lymph nodes – such as your neck, armpit, and groin – are massaged to filter out lymphatic waste, dead cells, and pathogens.
Massages that help:
Lymphatic Drain Massage: This massage includes a series of gliding, compressing, and stretching techniques to stimulate the lymphatic system without constricting the vessels, to ensure that lymph isn’t trapped anywhere in the nodes.
Who can benefit the most?
People with:
Lymphedema
Stress
Skin problems
Arthritis
Insomnia
Digestive issues
Fibromyalgia
Migraine
5. Improved blood circulation
Apart from the relaxation that you can feel right after the massage, a long-term benefit that can’t go unnoticed is the improved blood circulation from regular massage. Say goodbye to stiff muscles and spasms for long, because with the increased circulation, the blood supply throughout the body is rich.
If you feel a bit sore after the massage, it’s likely because the areas on which the therapist applied pressure are forming new tissues in place of damaged and tensed tissues. The rich blood flow will not only heal the damaged tissues but also promote the growth of the new tissues.
Massages that help:
Swedish massage: The prime stroke used in the Swedish Massage – effleurage, long strokes in the direction of blood flow –works on the stimulation of blood flow by opening up your blood vessels.
Sports massage: A sports massage involves different strokes and techniques to promote recovery and healing in the body. The therapist works majorly to improve blood flow because improved blood flow to your muscles means a better supply of nutrients and oxygen, which promotes faster recovery.
Who can benefit the most?
Almost everyone, but particularly:
Individuals with sitting jobs
People having chronic body pain
Professional athletes
Gymers and weightlifters
Runners
Swimmers
6. Enhanced immune function
Regular massage therapy is proven to boost your white blood cell count. The WBCs have a vital role in the immune system as they help the body fight disease and external toxins.
Along with that, massage therapy has positive effects on the other immunosuppressors such as sleep problems, stress, and anxiety, etc. Most importantly, massage works to relieve us from pain, and pain is highly immunosuppressive in nature.
Massages that help:
Lymphatic drainage massage: This massage is the best option for strengthening the immune system as it works not only to drain the metabolic and lymphatic waste in the body, it also works to release all toxins that may be immunosuppressive.
Shiatsu Massage: Shiatsu massage is proven to reinforce and strengthen the immune system by stimulating the body’s defense system focusing on specific points in the body where lymph, blood flow, and tension are most congested.
Who can benefit the most?
Almost everyone, but particularly:
Adults in stressful jobs
Healthcare professionals
Individuals with chronic body pain
Insomniacs
7. Increased flexibility and mobility
Regular massage therapy helps a great deal in increasing flexibility by improving the body’s tissue elasticity.
When the therapist applies pressure to the targeted area and stretches it, the muscle fibers of that part are stretched. Since that’s not the original length of the muscle, the muscle spindles record and report the elongated length of the muscle to the central nervous system (CNS).
With regular massage, the more frequently the muscle fibers are stretched, the more the muscle spindles get habituated to the new length and decrease signaling to the CNS.
Massages that help:
Thai massage: Research shows that this massage has the ability to improve flexibility by boosting blood circulation throughout the muscles, increasing the supply of nutrients to the muscles to stretch and repair, and thus, reducing muscle adhesions.
Who can benefit the most?
People who do Yoga and stretching
Dancers
People suffering from joint pain and stiff muscles
People who sit for long hours every day
8. Hormonal balance
As we already know that massage works to relax the nervous system, a by-product of that would be a balanced out production of hormones in the body. While receiving a massage, your body increases the production of endorphins aka the happy, relaxing, and pain-killing hormones, and decreases the production of stress hormones like cortisol and corticosteroids (LDL) .
An increased amount of endorphins in the body also boosts the production of dopamine and serotonin in the body, which gives you a balanced-out, sense of relaxation
Massages that help:
Swedish Massage: Another reason to reap the benefits of a Swedish massage is its ability to balance out the hormones in the body by using techniques involving squeezing, twisting, kneading, etc. to increase endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine.
Who can benefit the most?
Overweight individuals
People with muscle weakness
Stressed, fatigued individuals
People facing chronic muscle aches and spasms
People with hyper or hypothyroid
9. Improves side effects from common medical conditions
Repetitive stress, mental and physical, is the most common reason behind most illnesses.
Massage therapy techniques that incorporate soft-tissue manipulations are proven to relieve the body from physiological stress - stress on muscles, joints, and parts of the brain - while improving blood circulation has the ability to trigger healing.
Above all, by improving the basics, such as lowering the heart rate, increasing blood and lymph circulation, aiding sleep problems, strengthening the immune system, stress relief, joint health, and controlling the blood pressure, massage therapy has the ability to alleviate most medical conditions.
A few medical conditions that can benefit from massage are:
Sciatica
Muscle strains, joint pain
Sports injuries
Anxiety
Insomnia
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Recovering from surgery
Migraines
Breast Cancer
Depression
Myofascial Pain Syndrome
Hypertension
Asthma
Fibromyalgia
Additionally, massage helps maintain a balance between immune responses Th1 and Th2, both of which need to be in balance for optimal health and immune functioning by reducing your stress levels. When your stress levels are high, these immune responses get imbalanced.
However, after a massage, having this balance between Th1 and Th2 can help manage conditions like asthma, type 1 diabetes, thyroid, or dermatitis, while relieving pain.
10. Mood Stabilization
Massage therapy is proven to reduce stress hormones associated with negative moods such as depression, anxiety, and anger.
People who undergo mood swings and energetically low states frequently can notice a positive change in their mood and energy levels right after the massage.
Persisting mood discrepancies are often a result of underlying physiological or mental issues such as stress, pain, tension in the body, exertion, etc. that are treated by massage.
Massages that help:
Shiatsu massage: This massage is the best option for those looking for a mood lift, stress release, or alleviation from depression. Shiatsu massage incorporates the use of moderate pressure to release emotional tension stored physiologically; which is to say that, moderate pressure is the key to mood-stabilization as it releases tensed areas and increases the levels of dopamine, serotonin etc.
Who can benefit the most?
Everyone, but in particular people with:
Anxiety
Mood Disorders
Depression
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder
Questions To Ask Your Therapist Before a Massage
What is the reason behind what you are doing?
After sharing your health status and reasons for massage, if the therapist suggests a particular message to you, then ask this question.
What's happening within your body?
The answer to this will give you further clarity on what you should be expecting after the massage, the processes that are taking place as you lie on the massage bed, and if there’s anything you should worry about. Ask follow-up questions.
What are the changes that will take place in your body from this massage?
This will clarify how far off or closer you will be to your desired outcome of the massage.
What to do after the massage?
The therapist will suggest a few things depending on the type of massage you received. However, they might suggest you drink lots of water, stretch and rest, etc.
What not to do after the massage?
A very important question to ask, especially if you are new to massage therapy.
When is the next session scheduled for?
The therapist will know the perfect interval between the next sessions, so be sure to ask them when you will be seeing them next.
To Get The Best Results:
Be on time for your appointment to avoid a rushed physical state.
Communicate well with your therapist. Before the massage, answer all questions sincerely and don’t be vague. During the massage, make sure you are communicating what doesn’t feel right. Honestly describe your needs and expectations from the massage to the therapist.
Breathe. Always breathe normally or deeply to promote relaxation and make the most out of the massage. Don’t hold your breath when a sensitive area is being massaged.
Take your time to get up and get back to reality after the massage. Breathe and move slowly.
Drink lots of water post-massage.
Be an active participant in the massage. Be open to the massage process, coordinate with and trust your therapist.
After the massage, ask even the tiniest of questions you may have.
If you don't see the desired results, be sure to change your therapist until you find the right one.
Getting a massage is an act of radical self-love; an investment into your mental, physical and emotional well-being. So, try this little treat out for yourself and give your body the care it deserves.
We hope this blog helped you recognize all the beautiful benefits of massage and which one might be right for you. For any further questions, reach out to us at hello@magnoliawellnessoc.com and we will get back to you at the earliest! To book a massage, click here and scroll to Massage Therapy.