How Massage Therapy Works in Mental Health Recovery

Many people depend on massage therapy to alleviate symptoms of physical illness or injury. But, most people don’t know that massage therapy provides relief from mental illness as well. So, how does massage therapy work to promote healing and symptom relief, and what are the benefits of massage therapy throughout mental health recovery?

Who Can Benefit from Massage Therapy Sessions?

Massage therapy is available at Delray Center for Recovery for individuals living with a number of physical and mental health issues. Some of the issues and symptoms that massage therapy can help to address include:

  • insomnia
  • depression
  • anxiety
  • high-stress levels
  • depression
  • migraines

Massages Can Help to Reduce Stress and Anxiety Levels

Anxiety disorders and depression typically involve experiencing symptoms including high levels of stress. Stress is a debilitating symptom of mental health issues that can affect a person’s daily life on a negative level. However, individuals who utilize massage find that their stress levels decrease as a result of therapy sessions. This is because the stimulation of the muscles helps to promote relaxation. When we are more relaxed, we are less likely to react to stress in negative ways.

Massage therapy can promote relaxation in as little as 15 minutes, giving people who struggle with high-stress levels the results they need fast. Therefore, making massage therapy sessions are a quick and simple way to address symptoms of anxiety and depression disorders on a weekly basis. Scheduling massage therapy sessions is as easy as taking 30 minutes out of your schedule – helping to promote relaxation and manage stress levels quickly.

It Helps to Relieve Chronic Pain and Other Symptoms of Physical Issues

It’s not uncommon that people who suffer from chronic health conditions or physical injury develop mental health issues like high-stress levels. An elevation in stress levels can make dealing with physical illness or injury even worse, so it’s important for people dealing with these issues to find ways to manage stress. Adding a massage therapy routine for people diagnosed and living with physical ailments such as chronic conditions and injuries can help to reduce stress levels, better manage symptoms of depression, and stimulate relaxation. All of these benefits can help to improve a patient’s state of mind which allows for a better treatment experience for physical ailments and a better chance of recovery.

Massage Can Help With Sleep Issues

Disturbed sleep patterns are consistently an issue with people who suffer from mental health issues like mood disorders, PTSD, and more. Massage therapy helps to promote relaxation, which can also help to improve sleep. Not only does massage help to promote relaxation, but it can also help to reduce pain, which is another cause of sleep deprivation. So, not only can people who are living with mental health issues get better sleep as a result of using massage therapy, but so can people living with chronic pain.

Utilizing Massage Therapy Sessions for Mental Health Issues

If you’re looking for tools outside of traditional mental health treatments and think that massage therapy may be a good asset for your treatment planning, Delray Center for Recovery can help. We provide a number of holistic tools for people who want to better manage the symptoms of their mental health issues, including massage. To learn more about our services, therapies, and treatment approaches, visit us on our website.

10 Reason Why You Should Try Meditation

Meditation is not just for hippies and gurus anymore.  There are endless  professional athletes, doctors and superstars who have decided to try mediation, and preach its’ benefits. The masses have begun to open up to the idea of this simple, yet useful form of relaxation in the past few years; however, meditation has been around for much longer than that. Meditation has a prehistoric origin and can be found in many religious and non-religious practices throughout human history.  As you would expect, some of the earliest records of meditation come out of ancient Hindu traditions passed down through the generations to be brought along with yoga practice to the modern world during the 19th century.  Because it has been tried and true for much of the span of human history, meditation is a great tool that can be used in any kind of recovery treatment. Meditation has been proven to be an effective healing activity with many health benefits throughout its’ existence.

Let’s take a look at 10 reasons why you should try meditation.

why you should try meditation

1.  Meditation Reduces Stress

Everyone could do with a little less stress in their lives.  Meditation releases endorphins in the same way the exercising does.  Endorphins reduce stress in the brain.  This reduction of stress lets you focus on exploring yourself and your own mind without all of your smaller, but still nagging worries getting in the way.

2.  Meditation Helps You Focus

Meditating lets you learn how to discipline yourself and your mind.  And this discipline will be reflected in your life away from meditation as well.  Your mind will be able to focus more naturally and you will have increased efficiency.

3.  Meditation Makes Your Happier

Since meditation causes the pituitary gland in your brain to secrete endorphins, which are known to elevate your mood and have a positive effect on your whole body. This release of happy juice you will be happier overall.  It alters the brain activity to enhance the area associated with positive emotional experiences.

4.  Meditation Lowers Blood Pressure

By decreasing psychological stress and increasing your ability to cope with stressful situations, meditation can make your blood pressure lower.  Both in the short term and later in life, meditation can make your blood pressure lower.

5.  Meditation Relieves Pain

Practicing meditation in the long term can lead to physical changes in the brain that can help alter your perception of pain.  The people who meditate often can experience a lowered sensitivity to pain.  Meditation can be a great way of dealing with chronic pain as well.

6.  Meditation Connects Your With Yourself

One of the major points of meditation is to learn to how let your mind direct itself rather than consciously directing it.  This non-attachment is meant to give you a better understanding of yourself and a better connection to what is going on in your mind and in your body.

7.  Meditation Connects Your to Others

While meditation is mostly concentrated on self-growth, it can also improve your social interaction skills.  After practicing meditation for a while, your mind will become more focused on compassionate feelings that can be directed toward others.  Any amount of meditation practice can make you feel better about dealing with yourself and dealing with others.

8.  Meditation Brings Emotional Balance

Meditation can help you learn to put aside neurotic or unhealthy emotions related to certain situations.  Once these negative feelings can be put aside, you may be able to focus on the situation at hand and how you really feel about it rather than having it colored by information that is emotionally triggered rather than logically triggered.

9.  Meditation Gives You Better Control Over Your Emotions

As mentioned above, meditation can help you put aside negative emotions that can taint your response to an emotional situation.  It can also help you control your emotions overall.  With the help of meditation, if you want to be more positive, you may be able to put aside negativity and bring the positivity to the top.  If you want to be more caring, you may be able to focus on the caring expressions you would like to be making and put aside the less caring attitudes that you no longer need.

10.  Meditation Continues to Help Even When You Are Not Practicing

You can still benefit from your brain’s emotional processing even when you are not actively meditating.  According to a study done but Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, the brain region with the amygdala responds to emotional stimuli.  This response can be changed by meditation.  This occurs even when you are not in active meditation.

Try Meditation and Keep Growing

Achieving the perfect meditative state takes a lifetime of practice.  But along the way you will pick up some very valuable skills that will almost immediately help make your life and overall health better. There is no doubt that anyone who wants to live a healthier and happier life should try meditation.