WELLNESS WISDOM
I support women experiencing physical and emotional trauma through healing touch, holistic practices, and nurturing product
3 Ways Massage Therapy Can Significantly Influence Your Self-Care
What is Self-Care?
According to Wikipedia, self -care is any necessary human regulatory function that is under individual control, deliberate and self-initiated. In modern medicine, preventive medicine aligns most closely with self-care.
This world is vicious, and it can make life hard! Ladies…we know as women do NOT always make time or take time for self-care. We often do NOT put ourselves on a priority list. AND…stress, anxiety, and pain are a consequence of NOT getting on that list. Ladies attending to our mind and body IS key and let me tell you 3 ways that MASSAGE are those keys:
#1 Stress In a study on the effect of massage therapy, there was a significant decrease in heart rate, the systolic and diastolic blood pressure numbers. In controlled studies measures of oxygen consumption, blood pressure, and salivary cortisol levels were ALL lower after just 10-to-15-minutes of massage.
#2 Anxiety Research continues to document the impact for relief of anxiety and depression for people in a wide range of health situations. For example, one randomized study found women with stage 1 and stage 2 breast cancer benefited from regular massage therapy sessions. The immediate massage benefits included reduced anxiety, depressed mood, and anger, while the long-term impact reduced depression and increased serotonin values. Serotonin is the hormone that stabilizes our mood, feelings of well-being, and happiness.
#3 Pain 41% of American adults who had a massage in the past 5 years indicate they sought it for pain relief. Therapeutic massage may relieve pain by way of several mechanisms, including relaxing painful muscles, and possibly helping to by stimulating competing nerve fibers and impeding pain messages to and from the brain.
I hope that this Wellness Wisdom was of value to you!
Client Testimony
I used to think massages were something you did for special occasions - a bachelorette weekend or a big birthday. Several years ago I started going to Align Total Wellness and Tronda introduced me to the idea of massages as part of regular self care. I’m a middle class single Mom who at the time had a young energetic son and an older home. Despite doing regular yoga I still felt stressed, like I never had enough time to really take care of myself. I definitely didn’t think I was someone who could afford monthly massages at first...
But I really started enjoying that time when I could just let go & completely relax. I always left ATW feeling lighter and happier. Tronda just has a way of getting out the knots in my neck and shoulders that no amount of yoga I did could ever reach. After a while I was hooked, massage became something my body really needed and I looked forward to it (and still do) each month. That chance to totally unplug, unwind and do something just for me is why I make time and room in my budget for monthly massages. I always leave restored and better able to deal with whatever comes up in life!
