Massage Has No Use in Beating Stress

Having a massage as a way to beat stress is a waste of money a study conducted by American researchers reveals.

While a massage is assumed to be the best way to reduce stress, researchers from Group Health Research Institute said that it is as effective as listening to soft music or taking deep breaths. Around 68 anxiety patients were divided into three groups and underwent 10 sessions of each forms of alternative therapy.

All of the sessions included soft music while the patients were encouraged to breathe more deeply. After a 12 week period, the researchers found that all of the patients admitted that their anxiety symptoms reduced by 40 percent.

The researchers went on to add that instead of the massage, it was the soft music that was played during the session that reduced stress among the patients.

“We were surprised to find that the benefits of massage were no greater than those of the same number of sessions of 'thermotherapy' or listening to relaxing music. This suggests that the benefits of massage may be due to a generalised relaxation response”, senior researcher Karen Sherman said.


Source-Medindia
RAS