Massage and Health One

 Massage For Health 1: Massage and Stress

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Top reasons my clients get massages:

1. Stress reduction/ relaxation 
2. Pain relief/ management
3. Injury recovery/ rehabilitation 

So, if stress relief is the number one reason people get massages; then how much difference can a massage really make for their stress levels and mental health? 

There have been a multitude of studies done regarding stress reduction and massage therapy. Some ask people how they feel before and after massage, others measure quantifiable results like cortisol levels in the saliva. Despite the difficulty of putting a number to the amount of help, it has been proven over and over that getting massages help people to relax and relieve stress. 

According to one article by the University of Konstanz, even just ten minutes of relaxation techniques activates the body’s processes for fighting stress (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200918104305.htm). This means that taking just ten minutes to do something to release the tension and stress allows your body to start to unwind all the negative effects that have been affecting you. Massage is a great way to get relaxed because it requires you to simply lay on a table, let go of all the to dos and should’ve dones and just focus on you and your relaxation for the duration of the massage. It’s by no means the only way to accomplish this but with all the other benefits that come with the relaxation, it is one of the most effective ways to reduce stress. 

Massage reduces cortisol (stress hormone ) levels and blood pressure which in return reduce stress and benefit mental health. To better understand how massage helps stress levels we need to understand the bodies stress response and the systems in place in the body that deal with stress.

The Body and it’s Stress Response

The first thing to understand is Cortisol and what is does in the body. Psychology Today (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201301/cortisol-why-the-stress-hormone-is-public-enemy-no-1?amp) states that high cortisol levels are linked with health complications both physical and mental. They also claim that cortisol is a major issue in the modern world and I think we can all agree that stress is definitely a big problem for most people these days. 

Cortisol affects every system in the body: the heart, the brain, the skin everything. That is it’s job. But what is cortisol and why is it in our bodies anyway? Our bodies produce cortisol in our adrenal glands and it’s used as a way to regulate blood pressure, control how the body uses carbs, fats and proteins, regulate sleep cycles and allow energy levels to rise to handle stress. All of these things we need to happen in our bodies and cortisol is vital to our bodies being functional. 

The second thing to understand is stress response in the body. The problem isn’t having cortisol in our bodies, it’s having high levels of cortisol for long periods of time. Our bodies are not meant to be in fight or flight mode indefinitely and whenever we are enduring stress that’s exactly where our brain puts our body, fight or flight. It prepares us to handle threats and react quickly to our environment, blood pumping faster, reproductive, digestive and immune systems working at minimal levels so they don’t interfere with your ability to fight or fly away from these threats whether they are real or imaginary. The body can’t tell the difference between real stressful situations that are life or death (think earthquake or similar situations where reaction time can make or break your survival) and ones that we fabricate for ourselves (think every day stress at work or even life events like weddings) so your body reacts the same to all stressors. 

Prolonged exposure to cortisol means your immune system, digestive system, sleep cycles and reproductive system are never allowed to leave their stress response zone and therefore aren’t doing their job as well as efficiently they should be. On the other end of this your brain, heart, lungs and muscles are all working overtime to be ready to respond to threats even if there isn’t anything they are going to be asked to do. These systems overworking wreak havoc on your body and will assuredly cause them to eventually struggle with dysfunction and possibly even fail because they are not designed to run on high stress mode for long stretches of time.

So now that we understand cortisol and stress in the body: how does massage help?

As stated earlier: massage can help reduce stress levels and even just ten minutes using a relaxation technique resets the body and allows systems shut down by the stress response to start working more efficiently, but how? 

One aspect of how massage promotes relaxation and reduces stress is entering a meditative state during a massage. Most people understand the concept of meditation: a set of techniques used to refocus the mind and encourage self awareness. Meditation affects the brain and therefore many of the body’s systems affected by the stress response. Wandering minds and rumination are stress responses in the brain but Forbes magazine states that meditation can help people snap out of these detrimental cycles as well as having several other beneficial reactions within the brain after practicing meditation even the first time you attempt it ( https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2015/02/09/7-ways-meditation-can-actually-change-the-brain/?sh=73719e791465 ) The state of letting go of outside influence and increase body awareness is a response in the mind that can often be reached during a massage with a little guidance from your massage therapist and practice. Therapist often guide clients to regulate their breathing while on the table because deep breathing techniques used during meditation and massage can help the tissues relax and absorb the massage better and therefore make the massage more effective. 

Another way massage helps affect stress levels is by allowing your blood pressure, respiration rate and digestive systems to go into a rest and digest parasympathetic nervous response. Encouraging the body to leave the fight or flight mode of the sympathetic nervous system means that the body is then enabled to take a break from high stress reactions and begin to relax and heal itself. Gentle touch and quiet music encourage this response in the body making massage a fantastic way to switch the body's active systems to more passive ones. When done on a regular schedule, massage can help the body learn how to come back down from its stress response more quickly and regulate vital systems more effectively. In short, massage is a vital aspect of a good healthcare regimen that aims to lower stress levels and help the body operate at optimum efficiency.  

Looking for more information about how often you should be getting a massage? Check out my post on When you should schedule a massage

Want to keep reading this series?

 Post two is here Massage and The Sixth Sense or post three here Massage And Injury

                                                                    

Stay strong. Stay healthy. Keep fighting for yourself, you’re worth it.

From: Ame Hinman at Hinman Healing

References and Further Reading:

Bergland, Christopher. (2013, January 22). Cortisol: Why the "Stress Hormone" is Public Enemy No. 1.PsychologyToday. Retrieved June 27, 2022 from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201301/cortisol-why-the-stress-hormone-is-public-enemy-no-1?amp

University of Konstanz. (2020, September 18). Ten minutes of massage or rest will help your body fight stress. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 27, 2022 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200918104305.htm

Walton, Alice G. (2015, February 9). 7 Ways Meditation Can Actually Change the Brain. Forbes.com. Retrieved June 27, 2022 from https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2015/02/09/7-ways-meditation-can-actually-change-the-brain/?sh=6f03a4081465