Massage Therapy Provides Medical Benefits
Friday, September 24th, 2010
Loading ...One of life’s ultimate luxuries is a one hour massage. Left alone in a tranquil room with soft spa music playing, the massage therapist engulfs your body into a relaxing and rhythmic chorus of strokes.
As you move from conscious to unconscious, you lose track of time. Until the dreaded moment comes when the therapist actual speaks and says “It’s time to turn over.” All discombobulated, you slide down the warm massage bed and get ready for round two.
Then back to the unconscious state until the therapist starts doing the ending ritual like spraying some essential oils in the air. You walk out wondering where the hour went and feel “different.”
Now after all these years that “different” has been researched by the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health. They found that a single session of massage caused biological changes.
According to their research, volunteers experienced significant decreases in levels of the stress hormone cortisol in blood and saliva, and in arginine vasopressin, a hormone that can lead to increases in cortisol. They also had increases in the number of lymphocytes, white blood cells that are part of the immune system.
And there is more. They are also experienced greater increases in oxytocin, a hormone associated with contentment. Aha, now I know why I always feel “different.” Got to love that oxytocin!
For more information, the study was published online in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. The article also appeared in the Tuesday issue of The New York Times. I don’t know about you, but a massage sure sounds good right about now.
Happy Friday!
