Stress Management

As the previous blog post stated, stress can and will have some serious side-effects to your life. Nobody ever wants to be sick, so you need to find ways to avoid these stress-related illnesses. Of course, there will be times that a sickness such as maybe a cold will happen, the more you do to prevent it, the more time you'll have for your life.

There is not one single solution to reducing stress, yet a multitude of ways. Of course, you know I'm a huge proponent of massage and I will do whatever I can to promote it. Massage will decrease stress and increase your immune system and the more often you have a massage the better it will be for your health. Even if you can just do once a month, that is better then none! Think about it this way, you take your car to get it's oil changed every 3,000 miles or so, you need to do the same with your body... get your monthly tune-up.

There are other stress management things you can do. As another previous post stated, Take a Cigarette Break. Taking breaks during your workday can decrease stress and increase productivity. Another thing is to find something that you enjoy and do it! Find the time for you. More de-stressing tips are:

• Walk
• Laugh
• Yoga
• Have more fun
• Increase physical activity
• Talk things out with family, friends or even a therapist
• Get plenty of rest, relaxation and sleep
• Make time for hobbies
• Take a bath and relax
• Read a book 

I hope you take the time for you and find out what you can do on a daily basis to help reduce your stress.  Part of it really is making yourself a priority and not everyone else.

For more information on Heavenly Healing Mobile Massage, please visit my website . Learn something new daily, connect with me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

Protect Yourself from the H1N1 Flu

Can you protect yourself from the H1N1 flu with massage?  Possibly.  Massage therapy has been proven to enhance your immune system.  Lymphocytes and natural killer cells (NK cells) are part of our innate immune system and reduce the amount of the stress hormones cortisol.  Cortisol has been shown to interfere with the production of NK cells which keep our immune system in check.  A healthy body produces the NK cells to respond and kill cells that are infected when we have a virus and boost your body to ward off illnesses.  Massage also increase the circulatory and lymphatic systems.  Both systems removes toxins.  The circulatory system is also responsible for bringing nutrients to the billions of cells in your body and the lymphatic system captures and destroys invading bacteria and viruses.

While massage therapy has not been specifically proven to fight the H1N1 flu, massage has been proven to decrease your stress levels as well as (again) increase your immune system.  I think we all know when our stress levels go up our immune system goes down.  So while massage may not directly protect you from the H1N1 flu, it will increase your immune system as well as increase your healthy killer cells and help protect you from sicknesses.  However, on the other end of the spectrum if you think you are sick with any type of flu, do not receive a massage.

For more information on Heavenly Healing Mobile Massage, please visit my website or follow me on Twitter.