The top 10 commonly accepted benefits of a regular massage

When people discover the joy and benefits of a good massage, they often ask themselves — "How often should I do this?" or "Am I being indulgent wanting to do this every week"?

The answers might be, provided you have a capable and experienced massage provider who isn't likely to injure you, "as often as you can afford the time and money", and "No, massage is not an indulgence, though it can feel like one!"

How good for you is massage?

Massage will:

1. Ease Pain - The benefits of massage have often been cited to be comparable to those reported for other effective treatments: medications, acupuncture, exercise and yoga. Massage has also been linked to decreased stiffness and pain, as well as better range of motion in people with osteoarthritis.
2. Improve Sleep- If you've ever dozed off on a massage table, you don't need to be convinced that a massage can promote healthy sleep.
3. Improve Immunity - Many studies have linked massage to better functioning of the immune system.
4. Address PMS Symptoms - Anecdotally, many find that massage can beat PMS symptoms, like bloating and mood swings.
5. Raise Alertness - Research has demonstrated that adults who were given as little as a 15-minute chair massage had measurably more alert and completed a series of math questions faster with higher accuracy.
6. Address Acute and Chronic Headaches - Just like muscle and back pain, headaches including migraine can also be alleviated thanks to massage.
7. Makes you prettier! - Massage increases blood flow, which plumps up slack skin, encourages lymphatic drainage (the shuttling of toxins out and away from cells so that more nutrients can travel in) and adds vitality to a dull complexion.
8. Reduce the symptoms of illness - Various studies have shown that massage can relieve fatigue, pain, anxiety, depression and nausea in patients of all types.
9. Complementary to Meditation - The act of laying down and focusing on the strokes across one's skin, being 'in the moment' is consistent with the teachings of meditation. Don't use a massage as a time for conscious thought, instead, allow the relaxation to take you where it takes you for the maximum benefit.
10. It feels good!

This information is provided as a list of generic benefits that have been identified by researchers and anecdotally and does not constitute medical advice nor a promise that any particular service will provide any particular benefits in any individual circumstance. Sad that we have state the obvious, but it's a litigious world.

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