Who doesn’t love a massage? Massage therapy is relaxing and therapeutic. But just in case you’re on the fence about it, here are 9 reasons to get a massage (that are beneficial to your health!).
- Massage therapy strengthens your immune system. By stimulating the lymphatic system, a massage can detoxify muscles, tissues, and organs. It can also boost lymphocytes.
- Massages improve posture. Tight muscles tend to pull bones out of alignment. When your muscles are tight, they can restrict blood flow and impinge nerves.
- Recover from injuries faster. A massage can help speed your recovery, and the sooner, the better. In fact, recovery time decreases dramatically when massage therapy is applied within 24 hours of injury, according to Dr. Thomas Best of Ohio State University Sports Medicine.
- A massage improves range of motion. By relaxing tight, stressed muscles, a massage can increase flexibility and improve your range of motion, which will help you prevent injuries.
- Massages naturally relieve pain. Rather than going to the medicine cabinet, try getting a therapeutic massage to relieve muscle pain and soreness. Pain pills can have unwanted side effects and risks of dependency. Massages don’t have dangerous side effects, but they can be addicting!
- Massages help reduce stress. This may be one of the most popular reasons to get a massage, and it works. A great massage can melt away the stress.
- Massage therapy can lower blood pressure. Admittedly, not much is known, scientifically, about why massage therapy helps lower blood pressure in a lot of patients. A massage can improve circulation, though, which may reduce swelling and pressure in blood vessels.
- Massages reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. In a series of studies conducted by the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine, researchers discovered that massage therapy lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol by as much as 53% and also increases serotonin and dopamine, which help to reduce depression.
- A massage can improve sleep. Massages have been shown in university studies to increase serotonin levels, which increases production of the sleep hormone, melatonin. These results were found in patients receiving two massages each week for five weeks.
Call (615) 883-9903 today to schedule your massage with our licensed massage therapist!