Massage therapy is used to treat a variety of conditions these days with great effectiveness, but many people discover when they go in for another problem they find an additional benefit of massage: a good night’s sleep.
Quality sleep seems to elude a good number of people, and researchers at The University of Maryland found that only about 35% of adults get the recommended 8 hours of sleep each night. So if you’re one of the people who either has a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep, you’re definitely not alone.
There are a number of reasons why people don’t get enough sleep. For many people, the reason is easy to pinpoint, such as too much caffeine, or anxiety that keeps them thinking long into the night. Other times sleep disruption is caused by issues such as:
Other factors may affect a person’s ability to sleep well too. Those who travel often, especially across time zones, may experience sleep issues. In general, women experience problems with sleep more than men, and the elderly tend to have more difficulty getting quality sleep.
Unfortunately, lack of sleep carries some serious consequences. The repercussions for not getting enough shuteye goes beyond exhaustion. In addition to being tired, not getting enough sleep can contribute to many health conditions. According to a recent study by Yonsei University in South Korea, those conditions can even be life-threatening.
Researchers followed about 2,600 adults for more than two years and found that participants who didn’t get at least six hours of sleep a night were 41 percent more likely to develop metabolic syndrome than individuals who got six to eight hours of shuteye. Metabolic syndrome includes symptoms such as high blood pressure, high blood sugar, unhealthy weight, and fat in the blood. These symptoms lead to much more severe issues, including diabetes, stroke, and heart disease.
If sleep eludes you, yet you can’t seem to find a solution to the problem, massage is an effective treatment for sleep disorders. Many studies have been done on how massage can help other symptoms, only to find that participants also report an improvement in sleep patterns.
In The American Massage Therapy’s Association’s position that massage does, in fact, improve sleep, they cite 19 different studies where patients experienced massage for problems such as depression, anxiety, chronic pain, coronary issues, psychiatric problems, and more, only to find that these patients report an improvement in sleep as well as their other medical issues.
So, it makes sense, that if a person is having sleep issues, to turn to massage to treat the problem. When untreated, sleep disturbances can turn into greater health issues, so people should not take problems such as insomnia or sleeplessness lightly, but experience help through massage.
There are other options when it comes to sleep problems. A visit to a physician will likely get you a prescription, but these types of medications often come with their own issues, including a cycle of dependence or ineffectiveness. Many people try “natural” supplements that are supposed to help people with sleep issues, but they typically don’t work consistently.
When it comes to a sleep treatment that is natural, and works on almost all people, massage is the best course of treatment. It comes with no risk, no side effects, and often helps patients with other issues such as anxiety or pain, so there’s no reason not to give it a try.
If you’d like to find out more about the benefits of massage, contact us.
