Massaging, what people both young and old know to be a perfect stress reliever and muscle relaxer. Massages can relax tense muscle tissue by improving blood and lymph circulation, helping to bring nutrients to, and take waste products away from, our aching muscles.  Massages are capable of causing changes in your body that can alter the physiological aspects of how your body is structured.

By receiving a massage, that puts your body in the position of changing. These changes can occur in responses, the relaxation and mechanical response. The relaxation response is involuntary and it may occur when someone lightly touches you in a gentle fashion, making you feel relaxed. As studies are currently showing, the relaxation response is responsible for maintaining stable and slow heart and breathing rates, a decrease in blood pressure, an increase of serotonin levels, and a decrease in hormones produced during stress, while also relaxing your muscles.  The second response is the mechanical response, which is what provides alternative sources for blood and lymph circulation along with the relaxation of all the many muscle tissues in your body. Through massaging, your muscle tissues have the opportunity to improve function, which comes from nutrients and oxygen being transported to the muscle cells and wastes being transported away from them.   Swelling, muscle cramps, and spasms that may occur in your muscles all have the opportunity of diminishing during a mechanical response. Massaging can also potentially reduce nerve compression, which positively affects your muscles and organs. Massaging can bring about plenty of positive changes for the muscles and other parts of your body, which is crucial to a long, healthy life.

Let’s face it, there have been times in all of our lives where we longed for a massage to relieve us from the tension, cramps, and aches that were nestled within our muscles. Having a knowledge of the positive effects that the massaging on your body has can lead to a longer span of healthiness for your body. Knowing the encouraging facts about the outcome for frequent massaging on the body is a necessary element of knowledge for the up-keep of our bodies.

Cicetti, Fred. Do Massages Do Anything Besides Relax You? 16 Aug. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.

University of Minnesota. How Does Massage Work? 3 July. 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.