By any number of measures, we live in stressful times, and numerous studies and surveys suggest that stress levels in the American population are at elevated levels due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Ukraine War, inflation, economic fears, and other factors, including general unease about the future. At the close of 2022, the American Institute of Stress declared that the “current stress level experienced by Americans is 20 points higher than the global average,” making Americans among the most stressed people in the world.

While influenced by external forces, stress builds from within and induces symptoms that negatively impact our health and further exacerbate our stress, sometimes to the point of making it chronic. Whether acute or chronic, Southwest Florida’s Tru Glō Medspa can help relieve your stress levels with invigorating massage therapy, which provides numerous therapeutic benefits that help ease the stress and its multiple symptoms.

Identifying the Symptoms of Stress

Stress, it should be noted, is part of our bodies’ natural fight or response to external stimuli. This response is meant to be short in duration, so when it’s sustained or becomes a chronic condition, it can negatively impact our physiology with a variety of symptoms, including:

• Muscle stiffness and pain
• Increased perspiration
• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Insomnia
• Constipation
• Irritability
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Acid reflux
• Weight loss or gain

As a chronic condition, stress can affect blood pressure, increase the risk of type two diabetes, and lower the body’s immune system response. Chronic stress is also linked to heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers, eczema, fibromyalgia, and subdued libido.

How Massage Therapy Eases Stress Symptoms

Because it’s impossible to conduct double-blind studies and difficult to quantify physical and psychological benefits, researchers have trouble directly proving massage therapy’s therapeutic benefits. However, some research and plenty of anecdotal evidence supports massage as an effective reliever of stress symptoms. Based on limited studies and anecdotal evidence, researchers believe that massage therapy positively changes the brain’s EEG activity, decreases cortisol levels, and boosts mood-stabilizing serotonin levels. Massage also eases muscle tension and helps activate the body’s autonomous parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for bodily functions that you don’t think about to control. While research is limited, some studies suggest that massage’s effect on the parasympathetic nervous system may help reduce high blood pressure.

Stress-Busting Benefits of Massage Therapy

Anyone who has undergone massage therapy will undoubtedly tell you that it helped ease their muscle tension and pain, and many will add that it helped alleviate stress, especially when they’ve scheduled regular weekly massage sessions. Doctors often recommend massage therapy to patients with sports injuries, soft tissue injuries, joint replacement surgery, nerve pain, fibromyalgia, temporomandibular disorders, and other conditions.

While stress and its symptoms represent a “which came first, the chicken or the egg” scenario, massage therapy can effectively address both. It directly reduces stress by inducing a deep sense of relaxation and stimulates the receptors, nerves, and hormones that regulate our mood. And any of the stress-related symptoms it successfully relieves will further help reduce one’s overall stress. In short, massage therapy is one of the most effective non-pharmaceutical stress busters available.

Massage Therapy at Naples-Based Tru Glō Medspa

Tru Glō Medspa’s licensed massage therapists offer a variety of massage services designed to relieve stress and provide distinct therapeutic benefits in treating specific conditions. Your first Tru Glō Medspa massage therapy session will begin with a detailed consultation to review your overall health and identify which type(s) of massage will provide the most benefits in treating any physical and mental conditions affecting you. To schedule your massage therapy session, contact our Naples, Florida-based medical spa through our website’s contact page or by calling 239-919-7009.