Regular massage can help maintain your mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing. Massage therapy helps you to reconnect with your body. Different massage types provide relief from everyday body aches and pains that result from spending too much time at desks, in the field, or from injuries.

• Massage Can Help Reduce Stress Levels

We all know that stress is not a good thing. When your body is stressed and overwhelmed with everything you have on your to-do list, it releases unhealthy amounts of the stress hormone, cortisol. This is responsible for a wide range of unpleasant side effects such as disrupted sleep patterns, low mood, lack of focus, irritability, and even weight gain.

Studies show that regular massages can actually help to reduce the amount of cortisol flying around the body, alleviating those side effects, and also bringing about a sense of calm and relaxation, which is vital to our mental health and well-being. It’s probably not ever going to be the case that you can completely kick stress out of your life, but you should certainly be working to reduce your stress levels. Massage can be incorporated into that stress-busting routine, with fantastic results to show for it.

• Massage Can Lower Blood Pressure Levels

In addition to reducing your cortisol levels, research also shows that regular massage can lower blood pressure, and therefore reduce blood pressure-related conditions and complications. It is thought that receiving massages on a regular basis can reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which is the top number and the bottom number on your blood pressure reading. Research suggests that lower blood pressure reduces your chances of developing heart disease, stroke, heart attack, and even kidney failure.

 

• Massage Can Help to Reduce Anxiety, Depression, and General Low Mood

Regular massage has also been shown to help with symptoms of low mood, anxiety, and depression. Massage cannot take away depression on its own, but when used as part of a treatment regimen, it can be very successful. Massage is also fantastic for helping with anxiety because it helps to relax and focus the mind by bringing you back into the present, away from the racing, sometimes scary thoughts that can transpire during anxiety attacks and distress. Just like exercise is renowned for helping with such mental health issues, massage can help with the reduction of cortisol in the body as a whole, as well as an increase in dopamine.

 

• Massage Helps to Increase Flexibility and Strength

If you regularly suffer from chronic pain such as arthritis, regular massage can help reduce or even eliminate that pain. Research shows that massage relaxes muscles, takes away built-up tension, increases flexibility, and can help to improve general posture. Massage can also help eliminate headaches as many tension headaches are a result of bad posture.

Massage increases the circulation of nutrients to the muscles which helps to strengthen them and allows the body to recover faster from any injuries and issues. It also allows painkilling endorphins to be released into the bloodstream. This increases dopamine, a well-known relaxation hormone, which helps to reduce pain and encourages healing.

• Massage Helps to Improve Circulation

Having good circulation is not just about not having cold hands and feet. It is about giving the body, including all the major organs, the nourishment they need to do their good work: keeping you healthy. Massage has been shown to boost circulation, as well as helping to release any blockages in areas of the body that might have become congested over time. Waste products are easily moved and allowed to be drained away via the body’s natural systems, which helps to boost your immune system. Put simply, good circulation is vital for good health, and massage can help to achieve that.