Massage and Sleep
Have you ever had a massage and felt yourself relax the minute your body hit the massage table? Do you go home after a massage and get the best night of sleep you have had all week? Do you schedule your massage to help relieve stress or pain, and in turn get better sleep?
If so, you are utilizing massage for one of its health improving benefits: sleep.
The Importance of Sleep
Sleep is crucial to your health and wellness. Getting enough sleep improves function in almost all areas of life: mental clarity, focus, physical energy levels, healing, immune response, reaction time, improved interactions with other, better decision making. Conversely, lack of sleep can negatively impact your entire day. You feel drowsy or irritable, your thoughts may be foggy or slow to formulate, and physical symptoms may surface such as changes in appetite or pain.
Sleep is one of the key ingredients to health and well-being. A couple nights of poor sleep may be easy to remedy. However, prolonged poor quality or inadequate sleep can lead to numerous physical and mental health conditions. Not to mention, work, relationships and leisure all suffer when you are not well rested. John Hopkins University School of Medicine outlines how lack of sleep can impact your body and ability to function. According to the Centers for Disease Control, not getting enough sleep has been linked to a higher incidence of certain conditions including: diabetes, cardiovascular disease; obesity and depression.
If you lead the typical American lifestyle, you have likely experienced first-hand the effects of not getting sufficient sleep. The good news is that one way to improve your sleep is right at the tips of your fingers: massage.
Making the most of massage to improve your sleep
Sleep duration and quality can be impacted by many factors including lifestyle, activity level, nutrition, stress, health conditions, pain and age. Massage has been shown to improve outcomes for many of the conditions that can lead to sleep disruption including stress, depression, anxiety and pain. Massage therapy can help you fall asleep, stay asleep and may improve the quality of the sleep you get.
You may have experienced the benefits of massage for sleep personally if after a massage you were able to fall asleep more quickly, stay asleep longer or feel more rested upon waking. Not only can having a relaxing massage improve your sleep, engaging in therapeutic self-massage or providing relaxing massage for a child or other family member can also lead to better sleep.
There are some ways you can plan your massage to improve your sleep.
1. Schedule your massage close to the time when you will be preparing to sleep. The relaxation and pain relief effects of massage can aid your sleep on the night of your massage.
2. Complete all tasks before your massage. This will allow you to remain in a state of calm the rest of the day following your massage.
3. Engage in relaxing activities for the rest of the day after your massage. Extend the benefits of your massage by reducing stress after your massage.
4. Create a nighttime routine that includes self-massage for your head, face, feet or hands. Slow, rhythmic massage on these areas of your body can help relax your muscles, ease tension or pain and calm your mind.
5. Provide massage to your infant, child or partner in the evening. Providing nurturing, calming massage can have a calming effect on you and on the person you are massaging.
Massage is a safe, non-invasive way to improve overall health and well-being. Good sleep will benefit all areas of your life. How can massage help you get the restorative sleep you need?