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Posts Tagged ‘therapist’
Humans are tactile beings. From the moment of our birth and throughout our lives until death, touch plays an important role in our health. For massage therapists, it is very easy to see how the skin, as the largest organ of the body, reflects physical and emotional health. Looking back, we can all remember a time when hurt or distress has been “healed” by touch, such as Mom kissing a banged up knee, or when we’ve received a comforting hug from a family member or friend. Touch can also express joy and love, as well as the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, where touch can trigger fear and pain.
What role should touch play in our daily lives? It has been well researched and documented that positive touch, that being touch from someone you trust done with your consent and agreement, can affect us at a cellular and hormonal level. The release of endorphins makes us feel good, and actually contributes to not only our physical health, but also our emotional health as well. Much to our detriment, however, the inclusion of touch in our daily lives has taken a back seat to other priorities.
We live in a society where touching on a social level has become increasingly taboo. In a nutshell, we are touch deprived. A world-wide study done in the 1960′s noted the number of times pairs of people touched each other when out at a cafe. Peurto Rico was at the top of the list, with 180 times an hour; at the bottom of the list was Britain, at 0 times per hour (yes, that’s right, ZERO). This would seem to indicate that a normal, healthy social gesture seems to have become degraded to something which is not appropriate and needs to be avoided. In our own culture we seem to be becoming more touched deprived; according to “The Touch Deficit” by Patti Wood, 15% of Canadians go for 3 or more days without touching another human being. Could this be a contributing factor to our soaring levels of depression and anxiety?
How might we change this unfortunate trend? In addition to changing other lifestyle factors, the inclusion of regular, positive touch may very well help turn the tide on our cultural downfall. Massage therapy has been extremely well researched, and we all know it can assist our function at a physical level, by relieving headaches, back pain and other common complaints. But did you realize that massage therapy also improves our function at an emotional level, contributing to decreased depression and anxiety, improved sense of well-being, and improved sleep? The Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami Medical School has devoted itself since 1992 to the qualitative and quantitative research of how touch affects us at every level.
I would suggest that if you are feeling even a little (or a lot) anxious, that Massage Therapy may be able to help you. If you feel great, I would hazard a guess that you may feel even better by taking an hour out of your day and taking care of yourself. Think of it as a preventive therapy, and enjoy the power of touch.
Feel better naturally, immediately!
If you’ve ever had a massage, you know that you can start to feel better within minutes. We are biologically wired to respond to welcome human touch. The massage therapist begins to spread oil over your back. Skilled hands begin to massage tight muscles. Right away, you feel better and begin to slip into a state of relaxation. That alone is worth the price of admission. But there’s more!
People come to massage for a variety of reasons. Many come primarily for relaxation and wellness. Experts estimate that at least 80% of doctor office visits are for health problems that are caused or aggravated by stress. Headaches, backaches, and many other of life’s most common complaints are aggravated by stress. Anything we can do to counteract and alleviate the effect of stress is going to have a beneficial effect on our health. In The End of Stress As We Know It, author Bruce McEwen describes the effects that chronic exposure to stress hormones have on the body. Among other things, continued elevated levels of these hormones lead to higher cholesterol, a higher incidence of Type II diabetes, and increased accumulation of belly fat.
Sore muscles from overexertion respond quickly to the right kind of massage. Chronic muscle aches can often be alleviated by the right kind of massage. Athletes find that regular massage can help to naturally improve their performance and minimize injuries by eliminating unnecessary tightness in muscles.
Touch Research Institute
The Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami Medical School has conducted over a hundred studies documenting the beneficial effects of massage. TRI has found that massage therapy improves weight gain in premature infants, enhances attentiveness, alleviates depressive symptoms, reduces pain, reduces stress hormones, and improves immune system function. In fact, Dr. Tiffany Field of TRI has said that in every study they’ve undertaken, massage has been shown to be beneficial. That’s amazing.
We don’t need to wait for scientists to confirm what we already know from our own experience. Massage feels good and it’s good for you.
For people who are depressed, massage for depression is not a cure but may help lessen some of the symptoms and support recovery.
About Depression
Depression is a brain disorder, and research has shown that the brains of depressed people look and act differently from the brains of people who aren’t depressed. The causes of depression are not well understood, but most likely involve a combination of genetic, biochemical, environmental, and psychological factors.
Depression comes in many types. For example, major depression is disabling and prevents a person from functioning normally in daily life, while dysthymia is a milder, usually long-term, depression where a person can still function but probably isn’t living a normal and full life. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which usually affects people during the winter months, is also a type of depression.
Often the most obvious symptom of depression is an overwhelming feeling of sadness, but depression has many other possible symptoms that vary depending on the type of depression and the individual. Common symptoms include:
- Appetite changes
- On-going physical problems, such as aches and pains, headaches, or digestive problems that don’t improve with treatment
- Fatigue
- Feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, helplessness, or irritability
- Insomnia or excessive sleeping
- Loss of interest or pleasure in life, including lack of sexual desire
- Trouble concentrating and making decisions.
The two most common depression treatments are medication and psychotherapy. Another treatment, primarily used for SAD, is light therapy, which involves exposure to a strong artificial light that mimics sunlight.
Massage for Depression
Touch is important to human beings – babies die without touch. Lack of touch may even contribute to depression. And, if a person is depressed, massage may help.
First, dealing with depression presents a lot of stress, and relaxation is one of the best benefits of massage. Depression can also lead to muscle tension and pain that massage can help relieve.
Beyond helping a person relax, massage may reduce the body’s production of stress hormones, such as cortisol and norepinephrine, and may also increase the body’s production of pain-killing endorphins and mood-altering serotonin. Studies conducted by the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami have shown:
- Lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol immediately after massage.
- Increased serotonin, dopamine, and endorphin levels, helping elevate a person’s mood, after massage.
- Increased production of oxytocin, a hormone that reduces stress and promotes relaxation, after massage.
These effects may occur because the skin and muscles contain many millions of nerve receptors that are linked to the nervous system. Touch and massage can stimulate the nerve receptors, causing the release of chemicals in the brain.
The benefits of massage for depression are further supported in a review, published in the March 2010 Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. The authors reviewed 17 studies of massage for depression and concluded the studies supported the ability of massage therapy to significantly lessen symptoms of depression.
Plus, a great benefit of massage therapy is that it rarely has side effects, when received from a trained, qualified massage therapist. People who want to try massage for depression should always let their massage therapist know about their condition and other treatments and tell other healthcare providers that they are receiving massage.
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