Swedish - Full body Massage
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Your Body's Nervous System enters into a Relaxed State during Massage therapy.
During a full body massage session your body’s nervous system enters into a restful state. Pressure on your bodies nervous system may be caused by tight or non-relaxed muscles placing pressure on your body’s nervous system; a body massage may relieve some of that tension held within your body.
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When your body enters a relax state, the production of stress hormones; adrenal cortical steroid (LDL) will decrease. Correspondingly the feel good hormones, such as endorphins, will increase during a full body therapeutic massage.
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Musculature and Skeletal Benefits
During a full body massage your muscle are contracted. Blood and Lymphatic fluid are forced out by the applied massage pressure. Renewed blood enters your body’s muscular structure bringing nourishment, oxygen, and immune cells.
Lymphatic System Cleansing
The body’s Lymphatic system parallels your blood vessels through out your body. Large groups of lymph nodes are located in the neck, armpits, and groin.
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Due to the massage process the Lymphatic system is drained or flushed out. The lymph nodes (your body’s filtering system) help clean your body of dead cells, waste products and possible pathogens. A condition known as edema or the body’s excessive fluid retention may be helped by the applied massage pressure.
The effect of a Massage to the body's blood supply to the skeleton.
Do you realize that your body’s blood supply also effects the skeletal system within your body? During a full body massage the increased blood flow helps bring calcium and other vital nutrients to the body’s skeletal system thereby increasing their strength and function
Massage effects your heart's health
Massage supports peripheral vasodilation and enhancing blood flow. The massage triggers local vasodilation and stimulates local blood flow. The full body 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. For further delineation on this subject, please reference vasodilation.
Intestinal Benefits of Massage
Stress taxes the body’s the digestive system, and a full-body or Swedish massage can have a very beneficial effect on how your body manages food and nutrients. The parasympathetic nervous system controls your digestive system producing needed chemicals (like saliva, gastric juice, and insulin) and stimulates peristalsis, which moves food through your intestines.
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The parasympathetic nervous system controls your digestive system. The parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) is one of the three divisions of the autonomic nervous system, the others being the sympathetic nervous system and the enteric nervous system. The enteric nervous system is sometimes considered part of the autonomic nervous system, and sometimes considered an independent system.
For more detailed information on the parasympathetic nervous systems, please consult - Parasympathetic nervous system – Wikipedia.
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A Swedish Massage may include an optional abdominal massage that acts directly on your large intestine to regulate the final stages of digestion. When food moves smoothly through the digestive system your stomach, gallbladder, pancreas, and intestines function together for the most nutrient absorption.
​The Massage effect upon Breathing
Breathing is a complex function within your body. In addition to the diaphragm, there are muscles in your ribs, chest, and neck that assist breathing. Due to anxiety and stress, tension may accumulate in shoulder, chest, and neck muscles, and our breathing may become restricted when we’re stressed.
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As you relax further into the massage and your breathing deepens and evens out, a massage therapist can work into your tense muscles to reduce tightness in muscles that assist respiration. If you ask, your MT can also massage the intercostal muscles between the ribs that are important to natural and effortless breathing.