When was the last time you had a massage? Have you ever had one in the first place? If so, how involved was it?
Massages are often considered luxuries or unnecessary time sinks, even by managers and executives who can afford to visit a spa regularly. You might think massages take up valuable time, they aren’t worth the price, or they’re just another kind of alternative medicine that doesn’t do a thing. However, there’s a lot a massage can do for you if you visit an expert masseuse regularly, and these results are backed up by scientific evidence.
Massage As An Exercise Supplement
In the article linked above, a medical doctor explains how and why massage is an excellent addition to any exercise routine. When you work yourself to exhaustion, you damage the cell structures and fibers that make up the body of your muscles. You may feel tired and weak just after you finish, but the next day you’ll feel even worse. Your muscles will feel painful and sore, and you won’t want to even move.
This happens because your strained muscles need time to heal and to build more fibers so you can take that kind of punishment better next time. However, a deep massage on your tired muscles just after an exercise routine can speed this process along. It can reduce the inflammation of an injury and encourage your cells to rebuild faster, and that means a shorter recovery time and more progress between each exercise session.
Massage As Stress Relief
The care and attention of a skilled masseuse can relieve a person’s tension and anxiety and help them put aside their worries. Even if you go back to stressing when the massage ends, you at least had a few minutes of relief. This relaxation is a great form of stress relief, and reducing your stress level can do a lot of good things for you:
- Stress weakens your immune system, so getting some relief will strengthen it and help you fight off colds and cases of the flu.
- Stress keeps you from focusing on your work, so a good massage can help you be more productive at your job.
- Stress can disrupt your sleep cycle as anxiety keeps you awake, and a bad night’s sleep usually makes stress worse. Getting rid of stress makes this cycle end.
Massage As Pain Relief
The science is less clear about how massages can reduce pain, but many people have experienced this ability firsthand. One theory is that it gives the massaged person something pleasant to concentrate on instead of the pain, and that’s certainly a common way of dealing with chronic pain. There’s also the fact that massages reduce stress, and since stress and chronic pain often go hand in hand, that’s one more advantage you can add to the list.
Massages can do a lot to improve your outlook on life. When you book Altos Mobile Massage, you’ll be in the care of our massage experts, and they have plenty of techniques they can use. So lie down, take a deep breath, and let us work out the stress and soreness in your muscles.
