Massage is not simply a pleasurable experience, it can help reduce pain and chase away depression. Anyone who's submitted to the stroking, pressing and kneading of a therapeutic massage knows it feels good. But a swathe of new research is confirming what we've all secretly known in our muscles: massage is more than a luxury. In fact, it may be a medical necessity if we're to survive the rigors of modern life.
"Massage reduces the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, increases circulation and lymph flow and can reduce all sorts of aches and pains," says Dr Leonie Aitken. "I recommend it to patients not only because it promotes deep relaxation, but because it benefits many of the physiological systems of the body."
A clinical trial at the Jersey Medical School in New Jersey, US, demonstrated that therapeutic touch has far-reaching benefits for the immune system. Researchers found a significant increase in white blood cells and natural killer cell activity in subjects after massage. Cancer patients also reported they had less pain and anxiety after regular massages, as researchers from the James Cancer Hospital and Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio, discovered.
Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine , described massage as an effective therapy for sports injuries and war wounds. But it's not only the body that benefits from massage. The healing touch can quell fraught emotions and mental turbulence, too. The Jersey Medical School asked students to go for a massage before they sat their exams. The students showed a significant decrease in anxiety and respiratory rates as a result. And the University of South Carolina found that women who were massaged after the death of a child were less depressed.
Science proves the benefits of massage go way beyond pleasure. So why not try one of the many forms of therapeutic touch and experience the bliss for yourself?
