Winter 2011

Happy Holidays, and welcome to this month's article! Are you ready to wrap up another year and head into the holiday season? Hopefully you have a chance to spend some relaxing times this year with those people that mean the most to you!

During this busy time of year, be sure to allow adequate time for taking good care of yourself. It's so easy to overextend when there's so much to do and so many people to see. (Consider how helpful a massage could be to keep you going strong.) Please ask at your next appointment if you have any questions about how massage can help you achieve any of your health goals.

Please remember, you can simplify your holiday shopping with massage gift certificates for those special people in your life—give a gift that really makes someone feel great! You know your loved ones will be in good hands.

Please enjoy the rest of this issue and see a few more ways how massage can help you stay healthy and happy; see you soon!

What Makes a Joyous Holiday Season?

We all know that the holiday season can be an extremely busy time of year, with extra commitments added to our already full plates. But many of our extra efforts lead to some special times visiting friends and family that we may not get to see much of the year. What better time to put things into perspective? Why do we expend all that extra effort if not to make these times more meaningful and memorable?

Usually, our day-to-day duties dictate how we'll be spending our time and leave us little chance just to reflect on what means the most to us. Have you made time for the things in your life that are most important to you? Staying in touch with your loved ones? Pursuing your favorite activities: a sport or hobby; music or art; writing or reading?

Underlying all these things is your health. The healthier you are, the better you can enjoy every aspect of your life.

Massage may well be the best overall health booster available to you. Virtually every study done on massage shows that it can help your body to function more optimally, while performing the thousands of tasks your body does each day to keep you going.

Your first real reward from regular massage is that great feeling you get after your session—relaxed and energized at the same time. Then there are the many benefits that you may not really be aware of—a healthier immune system, better range of motion in your joints, less stiffness—things you don't notice because they are working properly and don't need your attention.

By making your health your highest priority, you are making yourself more valuable to everything and everyone in your life. So take good care of yourself and make your life more joyous. You hold the key to your future health!

Study Supports Massage for Back Pain

A recent study by the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle found that massage was more effective at treating low-back pain than medication. Patients who received Swedish massage or structural massage were more likely to report that their back pain had improved after receiving massage once a week for 10 weeks, and improvements were still present six months after the study. Researchers say that a next step will be to examine whether the different types of massage produced similar effective results for the same or different reasons. The study was published in the July 5 edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine and is available at www.grouphealthresearch.org.

— Massage & Bodywork magazine, Sept/Oct 2011

Bodywork Relieves Hand Pain

The Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami, in a study conducted in conjunction with Massage Envy, has concluded that massage therapy reduces pain and anxiety, improves sleep, and increases grip strength for various conditions of the hand. Subjects received 15 minutes of hand massage for four weeks and experienced positive results in relation to the control group, which did not receive massage. Tiffany Field, PhD, of TRI indicates that hand massage can provide relief for arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, and tennis elbow, among other conditions. The results were published in the April edition of Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice Journal.

— Massage & Bodywork, Sept/Oct 2011

Food for Thought

• In 1950, the average U.S. household spent 3 percent of its income on health care, and 22 percent on food. By 2010, food costs dropped to 7 percent of income, while health care costs rose to 16 percent.

— Time

• Family health insurance premiums jumped by an average of 9 percent this year, to an average cost of $15,073—double the cost of health-care coverage in 2001.

— The New York Times

• According to the 2010 American Massage Therapy Association consumer survey, more than half of adult Americans (58 percent) would like to see their insurance cover massage therapy.

— Amtamassage.org

• Over the last three decades, Americans went from eating an average of 3.8 meals and snacks a day to 4.9 a day. The average American now consumes about 2,375 calories per day—about 32 percent more than in the 1970s.

—Time.com

• According to the 2010 American Massage Therapy Association consumer survey, people recognize massage as an important element in overall health and wellness. Eighty-six (86) percent agree that massage can be effective in reducing pain. Eighty-five (85) percent agree that massage can be beneficial to health and wellness.

— Amtamassage.org

There can be no happiness if the things
we believe in are different from the things we do.
— Freya Stark

1;2: What science knows about muscle cramps & Walk this way for weight loss excerpted from USA Weekend, Aug. 2011

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Fast-food junkies —

If it sometimes seems that Americans are addicted to fast food, it might be that we actually are. Studies have repeatedly found that the consequences of bingeing on high-calorie, high-fat foods mimic the effects of drug addiction. A recent study by the Scripps Research Institute found that gorging on fast food actually changes the brain’s chemical makeup, making it more difficult to trigger the release of dopamine (aka “the pleasure chemical”). That means fast-food addicts need to eat more and more to feel happy—the same way users of cocaine and other drugs, for example, need to keep upping their dosages to get high. An earlier study, by Princeton University, found that rats who were fed and then withdrawn from a high-fat, high-sugar diet exhibited similar symptoms—chattering teeth and the shakes—to junkies going cold turkey. “Drugs give a bigger effect,” said study author Bart Hoebel, “but it’s essentially the same process.”

– The Week Vol. 11 Iss. 528-529

Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds,
can change the outer aspects of their lives.
— William James

The content of this website is not intended to replace professional medical advice. If you're ill, please consult a physician.