Have you been going through a lot of stressful issues and times recently? Do you currently feel like tension and stress have built up inside your body just as much as in your mind? Anxiety and stress can cause our lives to feel both bogged down and difficult to handle, and sometimes it’s hard to find a solution to these issues.

Although there are a number of different ways that you can treat and resolve your anxiety or stress, certain methods are particularly effective. One of these methods is getting a massage — but in particular, a massage that focuses on relieving tension and soothing stress. But how exactly does a massage help with anxiety? And how do you know what kind of massage to look for?  

Getting to Know Massage Therapy

When looking for a massage to relieve stress, it’s important to find the right type of massage for you. Massage therapy uses a number of different homeopathic oils and remedies, mixed with muscle massaging, to release tension from knots and leave you feeling relieved of the weight of stress.

In some cases, the therapy can be more immersive and involves calming music, which works alongside the homeopathic oils to create a relaxed environment. These massage oils can be purchased and used at home as well, so it’s worth looking to see what massage oils are best for you. There are a variety of different types of massages that you can choose from, so it’s good to know which ones are which and to determine which one would work best for you.

Shiatsu Massage

Translated directly from Japanese to mean ‘finger pressure’, shiatsu massages work very similarly to acupuncture in their methodology of targeting various points of tension on the body.

Through applying pressure to multiple pressure points on the body, the person being massaged is left with a feeling of lightness and balance, as this massage is meant to help cleanse the body of negative energy. This is a great massage for someone who is frequently dealing with anxiety, and is trying to find a massage that will specifically target their stress.

Deep Tissue Massage

A deep tissue massage involves strong intense muscle massages that are meant to specifically target big knots that have formed from tension and stress in a person’s body.

This type of tissue massage is similar to most conventional massages, in that it doesn’t involve any additional aspects aside from the actual massaging.

But the intensity of the massage will make sure you leave the session feeling fully relieved of your anxiety, as you’ll be free of most of the physical stress that may have been bogging you down.

This is a perfect massage for someone looking to target their anxiety, and also hoping to make their body feel lighter and more limber (if they’ve recently or constantly been dealing with muscle tension).

Swedish Massage

Swedish massages are essentially the most conventional type of massage. Through continuous massaging, kneading, and pressing of muscles throughout the entire body, this type of massage helps to immediately relieve anxiety and stress, while also stimulating healthy blood flow and muscle mobility.

This is a great and casual choice for anyone looking for a general type of massage for anxiety, or looking to get a feel for the type of massage they’ll enjoy.

For some people, the most anxiety-relieving type of massage may be just a foot massage, or a massage from someone you know in a more casual and familiar environment. But if you want to have a more serious massage that will help to purge your body of tension, toxins, and stress, it’s definitely worth it to give massage therapy a try!

How Massage Therapy Helps Reduce Anxiety

On a neurological level, anxiety is usually caused by increased levels of cortisol. This is the hormone that triggers both adrenaline and the fight or flight response. People experiencing anxiety or anxiety disorders usually have fight or flight disorders.

Massage therapy helps to positively limit the tendencies of the fight or flight response by balancing out the various faculties of the body — calming of the mind and body, stimulation of blood flow, and increased muscle mobility can all help to lower cortisol levels and give you a feeling of more control over your anxiety.

Identifying Your Anxiety

When trying to start the process of reducing your anxiety, it’s essential that you get an idea of what factors are typically causing you anxiety. In some cases, people have particular environments or environmental factors that trigger their anxiety — while in other cases, it can simply be being around certain people, hearing about certain topics, or simply thinking about various issues.

In many cases, people who are dealing with anxiety have been dealing with it on a daily basis for a large period of time. This is because there are a large number of people who have general anxiety disorders or another type of anxiety disorder.

But there are also cases where people have sudden stressful events occur, leading to a sudden experience of anxiety. Both cases can be difficult to find a particular solution for, but once you identify the factors that are causing you anxiety, it may become easier to find ways to target it.

Although massage therapy is definitely an effective way to target and reduce your anxiety, it’s good to try and use other techniques alongside this therapy. Sometimes, you can be experiencing anxiety and, at first, not really realize that it’s anxiety that’s distressing you. Symptoms are varied but can include irritability, difficulties with sleep, sudden fatigue, and muscle tension.

Other treatments for anxiety that work well alongside massage therapy can include yoga, meditation and mindfulness, stress-management tactics, and acupuncture. All of these techniques can be used gradually while getting occasional massages and will have an immediate positive impact on your general anxiety.

Overall, it’s good to find a multitude of ways to handle your anxiety if it feels like it’s frequently hindering different aspects of your life. But if it feels like it’s difficult to start the process, a method that will definitely help is massage therapy. Although massages seem like a standard way to release tension, they can be much more.

In releasing that tension, you can help your body to feel less weighed down by stress and anxiety. And in feeling less weighed down, it may become a bit easier to start doing other activities that can help to reduce and manage your stress. Here’s hoping that your first massage therapy session for your anxiety is the beginning of a fruitful process of reducing and relieving yourself of anxiety!