Refresh Your Body: 5 Amazing Benefits of Massage Therapy
If your muscles are screaming at you, you've come to the right place.
While it might seem like there isn't much of an intersection between the daily lives of professional athletes and professions like investment banking; the truth of the matter is they aren't much different, because both have muscles that they use and overwork in a variety of ways.
Massage therapy is beneficial to the office jockey with the chronic back pain, and to the marathon runner who pulled their hamstring.
So here are five fantastic benefits of massage therapy that you're missing out on.
1. Benefits of Massage Therapy: Eases Your Muscle Pain
Whether you've been spending too much time on your desk or overdone it at the gym, your muscles are probably screaming at you right now.
Massage therapy is all about targeting those pesky painful spots, then going right at them by applying pressure and other different techniques to soften those tense muscles and increase your flexibility to prevent future tension and pain.
It also works on increasing circulation to your problem areas, which in turn makes sure that oxygen is reaching the sore and damaged tissues.
So if you have stiffness in your neck and shoulder region, certain types of massage will ensure that the circulation is reaching the tendons and muscles that are in dire need of some oxygen.
2. The Hidden Benefit: Immunity Booster
Studies have shown that getting regular massage sessions has an active role in increasing your immune system's efficiency.
Getting a massage helps boost the immune system's cytotoxic capacity, which is basically the health and activeness of the body's "killer cells."
In addition, it helps with the body's ability to deliver nourishment and can be added to any exercise program, which on the aggregate level, helps with keeping your immune system healthy and strong.
3. You'll Thank Us Later: Helps You Wrangle Your Stress
Getting into a state of true relaxation in this day and age is no easy feat. So when your body is in a state of stress for prolonged periods of time, it starts producing cortisol, the dreaded stress hormone.
Cortisol plays a role in pretty much everything a healthy person is trying to avoid; from weight gain, sleeplessness to digestive problems.
Massage as a stress management technique has shown to be quite effective in causing lasting effects of relaxation, improved mood, and decreased stress levels.
4. Tension Headaches: a Thing of the Past
Remember trying to banish Cortisol from your body to reduce stress?
Massage therapy doesn't only work on reducing the rates of stress hormones, it also increases the amounts of happy-go-lucky hormones like dopamine and serotonin, as well as pain-killing hormones like endorphins.
Add those hormones to releasing the muscle tension around the neck, jaw, and shoulder areas and your tension headaches will be a thing of the past.
5. Wake Like a Tasmanian Devil: Sleep Like a Baby
It all returns to the hormones and the relaxation that follows.
Massage therapy has been found to increase your serotonin levels, which helps you feel calm and relaxed, putting you in an ideal physical and emotional space to sleep.
What Are You Waiting For?
Now that you know five amazing benefits of massage therapy, go and book an appointment!
And if you want to know more about massage therapy and other health essentials, make sure to check out our blog.