by Mindy Geraets, LMT, owner, hush Therapeutic Massage
In my last blog post, “Is Your Body Stuck In ‘Alarm Mode’?”, I discussed how the effects of chronic, unmanaged stress can hinder even our best efforts to reach and sustain common health goals. Over time, increased levels of stress hormones can weaken our immune system, impair our ability to sleep at night and focus during the day, as well as inhibit weight loss endeavors. While eliminating the factors that initiate the flood of stress hormones we experience is not necessarily the most practical option, there are proven techniques you can easily implement today that will help move you from “Alarm Mode” and into its opposite: “Rest and Digest”.
Breathing
Shallow, chest breathing may naturally occur when we are stressed and perpetuates the body’s stress response. It is difficult to be calm and relaxed when you are in essence hyperventilating. When you feel consistently stressed and under pressure, you unconsciously forget how to breathe from your belly – the most effective, relaxed way to breathe. As a result, you feel “wired and tired”. Your accessory breathing muscles that attach your upper ribs to your neck bear too much by becoming your main breathing muscles. They become dysfunctional and cause head, neck and upper back pain. Without natural, easy breathing, your mind and body find it difficult to relax. By taking just a few minutes a few times a day to retrain yourself to breathe properly, you can learn to shut off your body’s stress alarm.
Here’s how to do it:
- Inhale. Your inhaled breath should be initiated by your diaphragm – the muscle between your lower rib cage and your abdomen. Your inhale should result in your belly moving outward and down before your chest and shoulders move out and up. Practice initiating your breath from your belly at least 15 times when using this technique.
- Difficult or awkward to breathe from your belly? Use this trick: Sit in an arm chair that allows you to sit up straight while comfortably resting your elbows and forearms on the arm rests. Simply feel the weight of your elbows without forcing them down. In this posture, belly breathing may be easier for you. In this position your accessory breathing muscles are automatically disengaged. Your diaphragm is forced into being the main breathing muscle – the role it’s meant to play.
Therapeutic Massage
If you have ever experienced a massage provided by a professional, well-trained therapist, you immediately understand the relaxation benefits it offers. However, you may not realize that the benefits of regular massage therapy has been and continues to be an area of focus for health related clinical research. Numerous studies have demonstrated that massage reduces feelings of anxiety, lowers heart rate and blood pressure, and decreases stress hormone levels.1
Recently the University of St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul was awarded a grant to study “The Effects of Massage Therapy in Conjunction with Exercise Training on Weight.” 2 One of the premises of this study is that an elevated level of the stress hormone, cortisol, contributes to fat retention and distribution – specifically in the abdomen. Unpublished preliminary data suggests that regular massage can increase weight loss efforts by 2.5 pounds over a 10-week period.
Another study published last August in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, measured the levels of cortisol and other biological markers after repeated Swedish massage therapy compared to a non-massaged control group.3 This study concluded that massage provided sustained cumulative biologic results that persisted for several days or a week depending on the frequency of massage sessions. While this study’s investigators cite that larger sample sizes are required to confirm their findings, this data demonstrates that massage therapy has real, measurable outcomes that can benefit your stress-reducing efforts today.
My friends, stress is inevitable. But the real health-robbing consequences of unchecked stress are not. As you embark on the healthiest and happiest 2013 possible, take to heart that the journey actually provides simple, accessible and certainly enjoyable modes of transportation.
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Mindy Geraets has been a licensed massage therapist since 2006 and currently owns and operates hush Therapeutic Massage on Grand Avenue in St. Paul. She and licensed massage therapist, Laura Evans, have the experience and advanced training to engage the evidence-based benefits of massage therapy to help clients reduce pain and the effects of stress, and ultimately enhance their health and well-being. Learn more about hush Therapeutic Massage at www.hushstudio.com or connect with them on Facebook.
References:
American Massage Therapy Association Website: https://www.amtamassage.org/statement2.html Accessed January 13, 2013.
Massage Today Website: http://www.massagetoday.com/mpacms/mt/article.php?id=14695 Accessed January 13, 2013
Mark H. Rapaport, Pamela Schettler, and Catherine Bresee. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. August 2012, 18(8): 789-797. doi:10.1089/acm.2011.0071.
