Focusing on your health and wellbeing is more important now than ever before.
Here at The Connaught Hotel and Spa Bournemouth, we believe that self-care should be a priority. You’ll be giving yourself the very best chance at happiness, fulfilment, and being exactly what you need to be for those around you.
If you’re wondering if massage is good for you and you’re ‘umming’ and ‘ahhing’ about putting it on your to-do list, let’s take a look at some of the surprising and extremely healthy benefits of massage that could come your way.
14 Benefits of Getting a Massage
1. Massage Reduces Stress
Whether you have a stressful job, money problems or one of the million other things which can cause you to feel overwhelmed, stress is a very problematic part of modern society.
One of the best full body massage benefits is stress reduction and when you have a massage in a totally chilled out spa environment, it’s hard to feel anything but pure relaxation.
So, how does massage reduce stress exactly? It comes down to two things:
- Massage helps to reduce the amount of cortisol (the stress hormone) in your system
- Massage is deeply relaxing which helps to give you a break from stressful thoughts, therefore helping your worries to feel so overwhelming.
2. Massage Helps You to Sleep Better
One of the most welcome benefits of massage is its ability to help you get a better night’s sleep.
Sleep deprivation is very damaging to health and the massage sleep benefits are proven. Again, it comes down to relaxation and helping your mind and body overall to unwind and feel calmer.
In addition, during a massage your body releases several chemicals, including oxytocin and dopamine. Both are key for relaxation and sleep.
3. Massage Improves The Quality of Your Skin
Massage helps to boost circulation. That has the effect of ridding your body of cellular waste and dead skin cells. When these have the chance to build up, they can play havoc with your skin.
Regular massage helps to improve the quality of your skin and by using other health-focused tips, such as drinking plenty of water and using sunscreen, you will notice a big difference.
4. Massage Has Neurological Benefits
The neurological benefits of massage a pretty wide-ranging, but all super-beneficial. During a massage, endorphins are released by the nervous system, including dopamine (relaxing) and serotonin (happy).
This can help you to feel calmer, more relaxed generally, and can also help to relieve pain (more on how massage relieves pain shortly). It is the neurological system’s benefits from massage that also go a long way to reducing stress levels too.
5. Massage Can Help to Relieve Pain
We just mentioned that one of the benefits of massage is that it stimulates the nervous system and encourages the release of chemicals and hormones.
If you struggle with chronic pain, perhaps lower back pain, or you’re experiencing post-operative pain, regular massage could go a long way to relieving that pain down to manageable and even far lower levels.
You might be wondering how massage relieves pain. It comes down to the release of endorphins and chemicals, but it’s also about the movements of the spa therapist’s hands during the massage too. The soothing movements are designed to relieve aches and pains in certain areas, such as joints and ligaments.
For this reason, massage is very beneficial for your health because it gives you a greater ability to handle any chronic pain that you’re dealing with, through reducing the severity.
6. Massage Reduces Anxiety And Depression
Unfortunately, anxiety and depression are conditions that many people have to deal with these days. If you’re one of those people, regular massage could help you to cope.
While it’s certainly not a replacement for any medications you’ve been prescribed, massage helps to release feel good hormones which improve the way you feel and boost your mood.
The more massages you have, the longer lasting the effects. The deeply relaxing sensations of a massage are also ideal for sleep, which is often a problem for people who struggle with anxiety and depression.
7. Massage Reduces Muscle Tension and Tension Headaches
If you struggle with muscle tension, massage could be a great way for you to feel looser and more relaxed.
The techniques used during massage help to free up muscles and relieve tension that is held within them. Of course, tension can also lead to headaches and even migraines. So, it stands to reason that by treating the tension, you’re also potentially treating the headaches too.
After a massage in our spa, you’ll feel like you’re floating, and any muscle tension you have will be a distant memory.
8. Massage Helps You to Perform Better During Exercise
If you’re athletic or you simply want to push yourself in the gym, regular massage could be a great way to achieve your goals. The reason is because of the increased circulation and ease of motion that massage gives you.
9. Massage Helps With Heart Health
Massage shouldn’t be a replacement for living a healthy lifestyle, but massage could help protect your heart health alongside it.
Increased circulation, deep relaxation and lower blood pressure as a result of massage all help to boost your heart health and help you to be generally heathier overall.
10. Massage Helps to Boost Mobility
If you have tense muscles, we’ve already covered your problem, but if you have mobility issues, regular massage could help to get you moving a little easier and a little further.
The gentle yet firm movements used in a massage can slowly increase your range of movement and allow you to do more, with less pain.
11. Massage Can Help With Arthritis
Can a massage help arthritis? Yes, it certainly can because one of the main benefits of massage is that it can help to reduce joint pain, reduce inflammation and help you to move your joints a lot more easily afterwards.
Massage can also help with the pain of osteoarthritis too.
12. Massage Stimulates the Lymphatic System
If you don’t know what the lymphatic system is, it’s basically a drainage system for your body. Sounds disgusting, yes, but it’s vital for your health.
Massage helps to stimulate your internal drains, ridding your body of cellular waste and detoxing you from the inside out.
13. Massage Helps With Recovery From Injury
If you have minor soft tissue injuries, regular massage could help to relieve the pain and increase the range of motion you have. That will go a long way to reducing the healing time and getting you back on your feet again.
14. Massage Can Help With Weight Loss
One of the most surprising benefits of getting a massage is that it may help with your weight loss efforts!
How? Because massage helps to not only boost your lymphatic system, therefore getting rid of toxins and waste, but it also helps your digestive system to work in a more effective way.
When you can digest your food more effectively, your body gets the nutrients it needs from your food and you may not feel quite as hungry as a result.
That, in conjunction with regular exercise, helps you to lose weight. The benefits of massage for weight loss might not be as well-known as some of our other benefits, but they’re certainly there!
Are You Convinced?
After reading all of these benefits of massage, you’re probably ready to book a spa treatment! Great move, and one which will certainly bring great benefits to your health.
At our luxury Bluewater Spa, you can relax, chill and let all your cares drift away. We have a huge number of spa treatments to choose from, which of course include a range of massages.
Our spa is open for hotel guests and residents in the local Bournemouth area. We have four spa treatment rooms which are decorated with relaxation in mind, including two double rooms so you can enjoy a couples massage together.
In addition, our delightful relaxation lounge is a space you’ll probably want to stay in forever after your massage!
It’s time to put yourself first for a change, so why not let us pamper you?
