40 Medical Benefits of Massage

Getting a massage is often considered a luxury. But when you consider how many health benefits a massage has, you might think again, and choose a massage over other forms of treatment, or in combination with other treatments.

Here are just some of the many benefits of massage therapy:

Stress Management/Emotional/Mental/Awareness

1. Awareness of mind-body-spirit connection
2. Provide a sensation of relaxation and tranquility
3. Relieve mental stress and anxiety
4. Slows racing thoughts and worries
5. Provide time and space for self
6. General stress relief
7. Ease tension
8. Satisfies need for nurturing touch
9. Calms the nervous system
10. Help focus and clear the mind
11. Increased calm thinking and creativity
12. Increase relaxation alpha brain waves
13. Treat depression
14. Enhance self-esteem

Physical

15. Reduce heart rate
16. Bring fresh oxygen to the body tissues
17. Promotes deeper and easier breathing
18. Movement of intestinal contents
19. Improves sleep patterns
20. Relieve muscle aches and stiffness
21. Promote healthy, vibrant skin
22. Loosen up muscles
23. Improve blood circulation
24. Strengthen the immune system
25. Increased metabolic rate
26. Reduces muscle spasms
27. Provides relief from headaches
28. Increases red blood cell count
29. Facilitates flow of lymphatic fluid
30. Increases dopamine and serotonin
31. May help improve poor posture
32. Activates the parasympathetic nervous system
33. Reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol
34. Decrease levels of noradrenaline
35. More efficient removal of metabolic wastes
36. Improve muscle tone
37. Increase flexibility and mobility
38. Speed healing after injury
39. Stabilizes blood sugar levels
40. Relieves musculoskeletal problems

When you think about it, there is hardly a body system that massage and therapeutic touch does not impact.

With one swoop, one could find a way to do without laxatives, headache pain relievers, depression medications, tranquilizers, just through the physical, emotional, psychological benefits potentially experienced through massage.

Massage is a more natural and less invasive way of treating the body, and the “side effects” are positive ones, as opposed to the side effects that prescription drugs have, where you take a drug but it causes a problem somewhere else that you must then cover up with another drug. No one part of the body works in isolation and what helps one part of the body will help another.

In a society which is full of stress, massage provides a journey away from the stress, renewing the capacity to relax and to function at top capacity. Most people say that they are stressed, and often they reach out to stimulants or cigarettes to help control that stress. And so, most people could benefit physically and emotionally from a massage.

Consider making room in your budget today for a first professional massage, or find a trusted friend to give you one.