What Happens to Your body when You Massage It

Learn to feel better fast with self-massage

Survival vs thrival mode 

Get hold of yourself! Get a grip! These expressions are good advice when you’re stressed. If followed literally, they will cause you to calm down almost immediately. To relax, you should physically take hold of yourself and get a grip on your body. It will slow your breathing, heart rate, and lower your blood pressure. How does it work?  Think of it this way: we humans live in two different modes: survival mode and thrival mode. 

Survival mode is also known as the fight or flight response. It is a state of stress, high anxiety, depression over what feels like imminent or future danger. 

Thrival Mode is also known as the rest and digest response. It is a state of relaxation, flow, and meditation that requires your complete attention. In this state, your healthcare system is functioning optimally, and your body grows stronger and flourishes  The more time you spend in this mode, the healthier you’re likely to be. 

Massage is a switch that turns on your thrival system. It tells your brain that whatever danger there is has passed. Thrival mode is a much healthier state for you and the one in which you should spend the overwhelming majority of your time. You should be in the fight or flight mode only when you are in a life and death situation. If you’re stressed out and not near death, try using massage to activate your thrival mode. 

Self-massage isn’t the only way to activate your thrival mode, but it’s the fastest. Exercise, meditation, a nutritious meal, and a good night’s sleep will do it too. Where self-massage has them all beat is its immediacy. Massage turns on your thrival system in just two minutes. The other methods take more time and effort.

Massage is an energy transfer system

Let’s look at what happens below your skin to turn on your thrival system.  

Your hands compress your skin, activating thousands of pressure receptors living under your epidermis. Mechanical energy from your fingertips produces electrochemical energy that sends messages to your brain. These messages turn on your vagus nerve.

The vagus nerve is a cranial nerve connecting your brain and body. It regulates heart rate and blood pressure. Massage causes your breath to slow, which stimulates your vagus nerve. (Note: You can consciously activate the vagus nerve by reducing your breath rate in half, from 12 to 6 breaths a minute. You can stimulate your vagus nerve by counting to 5 while inhaling, holding your breath briefly, and exhaling to the count of 10.) 

Then what?

Self-massage is a feel better fast system

Massage releases feel-good neurotransmitters that include: serotonin (the molecule of happiness), dopamine (the molecule of desire), and oxytocin (the molecule of love). Massage inhibits the feel bad neurotransmitter Substance P, which causes you to perceive pain. Heart rate and breath rate slow down during a massage. Blood pressure goes down. If you’re both getting and giving the massage, you feel twice as good.

Take Away

If you want to improve your health, reduce your pain, and feel better fast, try giving you and your body a daily massage. Self-massage: it’s not just for one small part of your body anymore.