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Make Time for Massage!
This can be one of the busiest times of the year for most people. Already full schedules become further taxed with the demands of the season. Just when you most need your highest energy levels and your health, you get the challenge of more stressful days. Could there be a better time to get a well-deserved massage session?
At these times when you're juggling so many activities, it's easy to create a lot of the mental stress yourself just by dwelling on how much you still have to accomplish. One tip that may give you some needed mental relief is to put all those activities on your calendar so you can see exactly what you have to do (and when). You may find this helps you to unburden your mental load, especially if you can now concentrate on just getting through the next thing on your list.
While you're working on your schedule, see where you can work in your next massage session. It can go such a long way to help you cope with everything else in your life!
Here are a few of the more important health benefits your regular massage sessions offer you:
Stress relief Much more is happening within your body than you may realize when it comes to stress. All those worries and concerns result in hormonal changes that throw your body's chemicals out of balance and can play havoc with your health. (You can see why eighty percent of illness is stress-related!) One of the main reasons you feel more relaxed after a massage is that stress-causing hormones consistently are reduced by massage.
Better sleep In the National Sleep Foundation's Sleep in America poll, it's reported that as many as 47 million adults aren't meeting their minimum sleep needs. Bodies need adequate rest to remain healthy and to function properly. Studies show that regular massage promotes better sleep patterns.
Overall improved body functions Virtually every area of the body has been shown to be improved by regular massage. These many life-improving benefits can include:
- reducing blood pressure
- boosting the immune system
- contributing to the detoxification process
- stimulating nerve function that produces changes throughout the body
- improving muscle function and joint mobility
Each massage can help you in so many ways! No matter how hectic your life is, maintaining your health is vital to your future. Please be sure to make time for your massage sessions, so you can feel your best every day and be there for those who need you!
© 2006 Massage Marketing. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
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Why Hugs Feel Good
Everybody likes to be cuddled; now scientists know why. Humans are hard-wired with a separate network of nerves that trigger emotional, hormonal, and behavioral responses to being touched. This network of slow-conducting nerves, called the C-tactile (CT) network, is separate from the fast-conducting nerves that signal the brain about heat, cold, pressure, and pain. Swedish scientists learned about the CT network's function through a patient who lost the use of her primary network of nerves. When scientists stroked her arm, she felt no touch or vibration, but she reported feeling a pleasant pressure. Impulses traveled along this network at just 1 meter per second compared to 60 meters per second for signals along a normal person's primary network. It seems the CT network conveys emotions, or a sense of self, Dr. Hakan Olausson tells New Scientist. It must be used for the unconscious aspects of touch, because it is so slow.***** ***** ***** ***** ******
Massage in the News . . .
(compiled from the American Massage Therapy Association's website)
A study conducted by Beth Israel-Deaconess Center for Alternative Medicine Research and Education and the Center for Health Studies in Seattle concluded that therapeutic massage was an effective treatment for providing long-lasting benefits for patients suffering from chronic low back pain.
54 percent of primary care physicians and family practitioners would encourage their patients to pursue massage therapy as a treatment.
A consumer survey shows that consumers seek massage for health and medical reasons (60 percent) more than for sheer indulgence (6 percent).
Twenty-one percent of Americans continue to say that the primary reason they don't get a regular massage is that they are too busy.