photo by Andrea Piacquadio
Florida’s Department of Health released an update last month on heart health, and the importance of maintaining a healthy cardiovascular system. State Surgeon General Lapado weighed in on the topic, and while this is all true for Floridians, it applies to each of us in the United States and in fact worldwide, as heart disease remains the number one killer.
Avoiding tobacco cigarettes is one of the first and most crucial ways to avoid damaging your heart, along with eating a healthy diet and staying active. Exercise has been cited by many medical professionals as a veritable “cure for everything”, improving mood, self-esteem, energy levels, quality of sleep, and strengthening everything from your heart to the resilience of your bones and connective tissue. Exercise, and the highly positive effect it has on body chemistry and mood, also tends to reduce cravings for unhealthy snacks.
This also leads us to the topic of heart health and massage. Massage increases oxytocin, your body’s connection chemical, associated with love, nurturance, and human touch. It’s no surprise then, that therapeutic massage lowers blood pressure! Oxytocin has a calming effect, and creates bonding, warmth, and well-being. As you no doubt guessed, this is excellent for your heart as well.
An article from heart cardiologist Dr. Joel Kahn cites this fascinating study:
In 2008, researchers studied 263 volunteers who had a massage for 45 to 60 minutes. Average blood pressure fell by 10 mg Hg and heart rate by 10 beats per minute after one treatment. “That’s about as much as you might get from prescribing a new blood pressure medication for life!” Dr. Kahn stated.
So while a healthy diet and exercise are paramount, it seems massage, with its human connection, reduction in blood pressure and heart rate, as well as stimulation of immune boosting hormones, is quite beneficial for the heart too. That’s welcome news, since we all enjoy a good massage.
Thank you for tuning in this month.
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