Stress Reduction
Stress is an all too common problem
that has detrimental effects on day to day life in both the long and short term. The Transamerica Center for Health Studies in collaboration with the Healthy Workplaces Center at UC Berkeley created a wellness study which states that “Chronic exposure to stressful workplace conditions has been shown to lead to a number of debilitating mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, an inability to concentrate, and emotional exhaustion. Stress can also lead to severe physical health problems, such as immune deficiency disorders, chronic headaches, cardiovascular disease, and a reduced ability to recover from illness.”
Needless to say in the face of such long-term and debilitating problems stress reduction is a far healthier course of action than simply toughing it out. The Mayo Clinic encourages us to “brush aside any thoughts that massage is only a feel-good way to indulge or pamper yourself. To the contrary, massage can be a powerful tool to help you take charge of your health and well-being, whether you have a specific health condition or are just looking for another stress reliever.”
In a study conducted by the University of Miami School of Medicine in Florida, in which 50 working adults participated, researchers concluded that 15 minutes of chair massage twice a week for 5 weeks resulted in lower job stress.
Another study was conducted by the Griffith University Research Center for Clinical Practice Innovation in Queensland, Australia. This study also utilized 15 minute massage but only once a week for 5 weeks and concluded that “the results of this study suggest that massage therapy is a beneficial tool for the health of nurses as it may reduce psychological stress levels”.