{"id":568,"date":"2013-11-14T11:00:08","date_gmt":"2013-11-14T11:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/?p=568"},"modified":"2013-11-14T11:03:34","modified_gmt":"2013-11-14T11:03:34","slug":"massage-as-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/general\/massage-as-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"Massage as Medicine?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Massage as Medicine? Really?<\/h1>\n
by\u00a0Tomas Nani<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0NOVEMBER 12, 2013<\/abbr>\u00a0
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With all the talk about Obamacare going around, I\u2019ve had health insurance (and just health) on the brain lately. It so happens that I\u2019m also personally interested in topics of health and wellness, especially how our society addresses health collectively. So, when a friend asked me the other day what three main suggestions I had for staying healthy, I answered without hesitation: \u201cEat real food, not too much, mostly plants\u201d (full credit to Michael Pollan for that), move as much as you can, and get regular massage.<\/p>\n

Now,\u00a0I suspect I know what you\u2019re thinking<\/i>\u00a0\u2026 massage?! Seriously?! Should that really be up there with healthy eating and exercise? In a word: YES.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a>Now, before I go on, I should probably address something important: I am not a medical practitioner. I did not go to medical school, and I have no practical medical experience outside of some medically related copywriting and sticking the occasional band-aid on my ever-rambunctious son\u2019s scraped knee. I do consider myself rather well read on the issues of health and wellness, especially massage, but admit that my expertise ends there. In short, feel free to take everything I say as exactly what it is: informed opinion, but opinion all the same.<\/p>\n

So, now that I\u2019ve made my little medical disclaimer, I\u2019ll tell you why I included massage in my list, and why I think you should, too.<\/p>\n

As a nation, we are less healthy than we\u2019ve ever been. You\u2019ve probably heard the statistic recently floated in scientific and nutritional circles that this will be the first generation of children who will not outlive its parents. This should concern us (and I like to think that it does). The most prevalent reason for our health crisis has to do, not surprisingly, with processed foods and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle.\u00a0I know, I know<\/i>: It doesn\u2019t have to do with a lack of regular massage. Still, hear me out:<\/p>\n

Massage, in my experience, is powerful preventative medicine. In conjunction with an active lifestyle and healthy eating habits, I think it can do\u00a0untold wonders. Frankly, I think it can even do wonders in their absense. Massage has been clinically shown to\u00a0increase circulation, reduce inflammation, reduce chronic and acute pain, lessen the frequency of migraines, speed athletic recovery, and release feel-good, anti-stress hormones<\/b>. That\u2019s no small task.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, massage is a self-centered experience in the most positive of ways. Massage is something you do for\u00a0yourself<\/i><\/b>\u00a0away from life\u2019s mounting pressures and worries. As a working mother of small children, I can tell you without hesitation that even an hour of massage a week helps me work through emotional issues and better cope with the stresses I know are inevitably on their way. This is important. It\u2019s as important as reduced inflammation and athletic recovery. Why? Because happier people tend to have stronger immune systems. In other words, they\u2019re healthier.<\/p>\n

There are, of course, plenty of things you should avoid to stay safe and healthy: smoking, certain types of drugs, not wearing a seatbelt or texting while you drive. Lots of people have covered those dangers far better than I ever could. And I\u2019m also not suggesting that other things might not provide benefits to the same end as massage therapy, but I doubt any of them feel quite as good as massage does or give you the same opportunity to unwind. That\u2019s worth something.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s worth a lot, actually.<\/p>\n

So, yeah, if I had to suggest three things as general preventative medicine, as your best shot for staving off illness, those are the things I\u2019d do. In fact, they quite literally are the things I do. And, as it turns out, I have a massage booked tonight. Lucky me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Massage as Medicine? Really? by\u00a0Tomas Nani\u00a0on\u00a0NOVEMBER 12, 2013\u00a0 With all the talk about Obamacare going around, I\u2019ve had health insurance (and just health) on the brain lately. It so happens that I\u2019m also personally interested in topics of health and wellness, especially how our society addresses health collectively. So, when a friend asked me the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":571,"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568\/revisions\/571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}