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Benefits
Why
Massage Therapy is good for your health
Some
people think that massage therapy is only for relaxation and
that it’s really just a luxury, but that is not entirely
true. Massage therapy will definitely relax you, but there
is so much going on physiologically during a massage you’ll
really be surprised at the many benefits you receive.
During
massage therapy, your parasympathetic nervous system is activated.
The parasympathetic nervous system is the counterpart to your
sympathetic nervous system, your fight or flight response.
When your parasympathetic nervous system is active, your body
goes into a relaxed state, your heart rate, respiration, and
blood flow to the muscles slows down.
This
gives the body a chance to de-stress on the physical level.
When the body stays in a state of constant stress (you may
not realize it, even just daily work stress can activate the
body’s sympathetic nervous system), eventually the body
will break down. Stress related diseases are common and massage
therapy combined with a good diet and exercise will definitely
decrease your chances of developing those diseases.
One
of the many health benefits you receive through massage is
the elimination of toxins. This occurs through the movement
of blood and lymph during the massage. Although the blood
flow to the muscles slows during a massage, while the therapist
is working on a specific muscle, blood flow is increased in
the area of contact, and ultimately circulation does increase
in the body after a massage. When blood circulation increases,
it increases the oxygen to the cells and thus increases elimination
of toxins.
If you
already get massages, have you ever noticed that during your
massage your nose gets stuffy? This may seem to be because
your head is face down in the face cradle, but it’s
more than that. The congestion you feel is due to the toxins
building up and looking for a way to get out of the body.
That is why it is very important to drink a lot of water after
a massage to flush out the built up toxins, especially if
you receive a deep tissue massage.
Another
benefit of massage is that it can relieve chronic pain or
muscle tension. A weekly massage can help to retrain the muscles
to relax. Our nerves and muscles have memory. When we experience
stress or trauma even though we may not think about it after
a while, our nerves and muscles will remember the experience.
This can often lead to muscles staying contracted or spasming
in an effort to guard the body against the stress or trauma.
If you’ve
ever broken a bone, you might have noticed that one of the
first things to happen is that the muscles near the bone contract
and stay contracted for several days. This is to protect the
bone that broke against any further damage and to hold it
in place so that it can begin to heal. When you experience
stress, the contraction is not as extreme, but a similar concept
is going on and in some cases the body will experience chronic
pain or just feel tight and uncomfortable. When the muscles
are contracting they can pull on the bones, especially in
the back, and you can wind up with pain due to a pinched nerve.
When you receive a massage for this type of problem, the muscles
begin to relax and over time they release the ‘memory’
and the pain or tightness dissolves.
There
are so many benefits to receiving massage therapy, too many
to go into in just one article, but you can see that just
by taking the time to enjoy a relaxing therapeutic massage
you are truly allowing your body to rejuvenate and detoxify.
In the environment that we live and work in, any little thing
that we can do to improve our health will help our body to
serve us better and longer. ”
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