The Well-Being Effects of Massage
I just read a great article by Diana L. Thompson about health, wellness, and massage and want to share with you some of the highlights.
Health is defined as the absence of disease and includes more than just physical wellness. Well-being also includes psychological, emotional, spiritual, social and economic health. All of these are fundamental to overall well-being and may include happiness, vitality, calmness and optimism.
Stress impacts health in many ways. Massage and bodywork helps most clients reduce their stress. Stress can be dangerous when it becomes relentless, chronic, or feels like an attack. This is when health problems can occur. Some known health problems associated with stress:
- Headaches
- Diabetes
- Depression and Anxiety
- Asthma (which triggers shallow breathing)
- Gastrointestinal problems
- Heart disease
- Obesity
There are many benefits of massage beyond pain reduction and increased function. The bullet points below are from massage clients in a research article describing the benefits they received from massage:
- Increased ability to cope with pain
- Increased sense of well-being
- Increased body awareness
- Increased sense of control over their health
- Increased ability to relax
- Increased connection of mind, body, and spirit
- Improvements in physical conditions unrelated to pain
During your next massage appointment, let’s talk about how massage may help you with more restorative sleep, increase awareness of your posture, and noticing when stress begins, rather than just dealing with its aftermath.
Lisa
