For the new year, we all decide its a new year, its a fresh start and make a list of our “New Years Resolutions”. However, many of us start out the first week…or maybe even the first month out very well. We are feeling good, feeling encouraged and then we fall back into our routine of life. Once we do this, we look at our list of “New Year’s Resolutions” and become even more…discouraged because we have already let ourselves down. We have such high expectations for ourselves to start out the year but then feel like maybe we set the bar a little too high. I’m here to tell you that maybe your new year’s resolution is a little more obtainable than you thought!
Most of our New Years Resolutions deal with health, getting more sleep, eating better, taking overall better care of ourselves. This doesn’t mean quit eating your little “Spoil myself treats” completely, it means decrease the amount to become a bit healthier. Getting in shape this year doesn’t mean hitting the gym 8 hours a week and feeling pain the next day. You have reach your goals with more reasonable plans for yourself. This keeps your new years resolutions going longer-which makes you feel great-and keeps your encouraged and feeling better than ever. Massage therapy can help you acheive these goals. Here’s how:
New Years Resolution: Get More Sleep
Is getting sleep your problem or is the problem that you the sleep that you are getting, not high quality sleep? Fluctuations in several types of brain waves either relax you or wake you up. According to a study at the Touch Research Institute, massage increases delta waves, those linked with deep sleep. This is the exact reason why its so easy to fall asleep during a massage. Regular massage, can help you get better quality of sleep out of however many hours you end up getting every night.
New Years Resolution: Be Happier.
Less cortisol and more serotonin and dopamine in your system may also mean less stress, anxiety, and depression. Studies at the Touch Research institute have shown that when we are happy the left side of the frontal lobe (located in the brain), is more active. However, when we are sad, the right side of the frontal lobe is more active. Their studies have shown that when the client receives massage therapy the activity of the right side of the frontal lobe and actually increases the activity of the right side. It has become more common for hospitals to offer massage therapy to patients getting ready to have a surgery or patients going through chemotherapy to decrease anxiety. Why not give massage therapy a try?
New Years Resolution: Stay Healthy.
This resolution can be taken 2 ways: Don’t get sick or stay fit, and at a healthy weight. Either way you take it-massage can help.
Don’t Get Sick — well at least as little as possible.
Massage helps ward off bugs by boosting your “natural killer cells,” the immune system’s first line of defense against invading illness. Cortisol destroys natural killer cells and since massage decreases cortisol, your immune cells get a boost. Massage even seems to boost immunity in those people with severely compromised immune systems, such as breast-cancer patients.
Stay Fit, and maintain a healthy weight —
When you receive a massage you increase circulation, lymph flow and believe it or not-it also helps speed up metabolism. Massage won’t help you shed that 20 or 50 pounds but it will help you get on the right track with the right diet and exercise.
Need to lower that blood pressure or decrease your heart rate? massage reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol while boosting the feel-good hormones serotonin and dopamine. Those changes slow your heart rate, reduce blood pressure.
