Can Massage Help With Depression

If you are now, or you have in the past experienced depression, especially clinical depression, you know how difficult it can be living with and overcoming depression. It is a hard road, but depression can be overcome. Many different treatments are available ranging from treatments that require prescriptions to those that are entirely based on holistic healing.

Choosing treatment for depression whether it will involve prescriptions, therapy or is based entirely on natural remedies is entirely a personal decision and shouldn't be taken lightly. I suffered from depression for years and after years of failure I learned that even medication can only go so far.Any treatment plan should include natural remedies for depression and lifestyle changes: such as exercise, diet, journalling and laughter to name a few.

One natural remedy for depression that doesn't get much attention is massage.

Research shows that although massage in and of itself does not cure depression completely, it does show that massage alleviates the symptoms of depression at least temporarily. Massage also, lowers anxiety and stress causing hormones while increasing feel-good hormones.

The National Institutes of Health, in one a recent study concluded that:, “Research supports the general conclusion that massage therapy is effective. The studies included in the analysis suggest that a single session of massage therapy can reduce ‘state anxiety’ (a reaction to a particular situation), blood pressure, and heart rate, and multiple sessions can reduce ‘trait anxiety’ (general anxiety-proneness), depression, and pain.”

Massage has been used for thousands of years to help people relax, to heal tired and sore muscles and to relieve tension. Today, the number one reasons people get a message is for stress reduction.

No doubt, massage is a great way to reduce stress and to help heal injured or sore muscles, but one over-looked use for massage is to help treat depression. Massage does this by increasing the feel-good chemicals in our brains. The key chemical or neurotransmitter released during massage that researcher shows plays a major role in depression is serotonin.

It is believed that serotonin is linked to our feelings of happiness. Serotonin levels are also key to our ability to stave off anxiety and stress. It is interesting to note that many of the anti-depressants you can take for depression work similarly, by increasing serotonin levels.

Say What? Yes, massage changes our brain waves. This is similar to the effect that meditation brings, a feeling of calm and relaxation. The brain wave pattern that massage promotes is the alpha wave. When your brain is producing alpha waves it stimulates certain groups of nerve cells that produce certain chemicals, one of them being serotonin. And increased production of serotonin has been shown to be a factor in helping depression.

Studies done on alpha waves show that increasing the levels of alpha wave activity in the brain decreases levels of:

• tension
• anxiety
• depression,dejection
• anger/hostility
• fatigue

The research is clear that increasing your brain's alpha wave level helps fight the symptoms of depression and massage at least temporarily increases your alpha waves levels giving at least some relief to your symptoms of depression.

One of the common side effects of chronic pain is depression. People that suffer from chronic pain can benefit greatly from regular massage in two ways.

First, massage increases the bodies feel-good chemicals, which also help with pain. Massage helps with swelling, improves circulation and speeds healing. Massage also helps to promote sleep, which is often interrupted when suffering from chronic pain.

Depression can cause feelings of low self-esteem and self-worth. Getting a massage is a way to pamper yourself. Massage just feels good. It releases the toxins in your muscles, releases the tension and if you've been experiencing depression for any length of time you might have...well just forgotten what it feels like to feel relaxed, happy and feel good about yourself.

After your massage although the positive experience will eventually fade, it just might be enough to motivate you to continue with the massages and possibly add some other natural remedies for depression into your daily routine.

Studies on massage also show that just being touched can have a beneficial impact on your feelings of well-being and happiness. People need to be touched, and the healing touch of a massage may be just the right touch.

Research also shows that through regular massage, a sort of connection between therapist and patient is made. This connection releases another feel-good chemical, oxytocin.