When you hit yourself, the reflex is to massage the area where it hurts. It's as if the body knows that a massage is good for injuries and pain. Getting a massage relaxes tense muscles, relieves stress and reduces the underlying causes of headaches, for example. The touch releases the body's own pain-relieving hormones, endorphins, so it hurts less. The increased blood circulation improves healing and massage also has a positive effect on the connective tissue. Massage counteracts and reduces the connective tissue that usually forms in damaged or immobile muscles and makes the muscles more flexible and elastic. It has also been seen that massaged muscles have greater muscle mass.
The word massage itself probably comes from the Latin massa, which means touch, and touch triggers a series of stress-relieving processes in the body and stimulates the production of the feel-good hormones serotonin and dopamine. Sleep can also be improved by massage as the body relaxes. When you get a massage, your blood circulation also increases, and thus the oxygen supply in the blood. This is positive for the entire body. An increased oxygen supply to the muscles means that their healing and recovery are faster.
One study found that just one massage treatment increased the number of lymphocytes in the body, a type of white blood cell that is an important part of the immune system. Based on this study, it was concluded that regular massage can also have a positive effect on inflammatory and autoimmune conditions in the body.
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