A full-body massage: soft music, low lighting, a feeling of tranquility—it’s bliss. But what most people don’t know is that while you might be in a state of total relaxation your body is going into full activation mode during a massage. A massage stimulates your nervous system; wakes up your muscles, organs, and glands; moves blood and lymph fluid, and gets multitudes of cells to produce and release chemicals and hormones.
Your body needs a massage to renew itself and reverse the effects of stress.
A full-body massage is good for your heart as well. The vasodilation produced by massage increases your venous return which, in turn, increases blood flow and delivery of oxygen to all your organs. Your entire cardiovascular system relaxes and circulation throughout your body improves. Activation of the parasympathetic nervous system’s “rest and digest” mode helps regulate blood pressure and heart rate.