The World Health Organization reports that Covid-19 has spiked anxiety levels by as much as twenty-five percent worldwide. That is a profound increase in a digital society in which we were already increasingly fractured and isolated. We are social beings, and the need for human connection and human touch is a well-established one. Therapeutic massage can help address these issues. Patients widely report feeling much better, emotionally and physically, after a massage.
With the reduction in stress chemicals like cortisol and the increase in serotonin and oxytocin (a human touch neurotransmitter), massage can have a highly beneficial effect on anxiety. Serotonin actually makes us more resistant to anxiety and stress, so along with regular exercise and a healthy lifestyle, massage helps shore up the mind and body against those taxing emotional states. The therapist chats pleasantly with the client, while laying on hands and massaging muscles. This has a grounding, calming effect, and can be a direct antidote to isolation and anxiety.
Human touch is a profound need, as is social connection, and its absence creates anxiety. The healing intent of the therapist, the grounding effect of his or her hands, calming music and most of all the massaging of tense muscles relaxes the body, and helps to reduce and resolve anxiety.
|
