Massage and Yoga for Depression and Anxiety
7/17/2018
NewsDepression & Anxiety in the US
An estimated 16.2 million adults in the United States had at least one major depressive episode. This number represents 6.7% of all U.S. adults. Nearly 50% of those diagnosed with depression also experience anxiety (NIMH, 2016). With the prevalence of depression and anxiety so high, it’s important to identify the most effective and quickest remedies.What’s the cure?
The U.S. has gone through several iterations of what the “cure all” for mental health issues are over time. For a while it was shock therapy, then talk therapy, then medication. However, the research now shows that there isn’t just one answer for treating mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Complementary therapies such as yoga and massage are beginning to become more mainstream as the evidence builds in their favor.The Research
A leading researcher in touch therapy, Dr. Tiffany Field says: “Just adding massage makes such an incredible difference. In everything we’ve done, massage is significantly effective. There’s not a single condition we’ve looked at—including cancer—that hasn’t responded positively to massage.” Dr. Field said that key components of massage’s benefit include the decrease in cortisol and increase of dopamine and serotonin affected by massage (Massage Magazine, 2018). According to the Harvard Medical School, research demonstrates that mental and physical health are closely connected. The evidence demonstrates that yoga is “a relatively low-risk, high-yield approach to improving overall health” (Harvard Health, 2018).Yoga + Massage
With both of these modalities showing strong evidence for helping to treat mental and physical health issues, how could we go wrong combining the two for an incredible, therapeutic mindfulness experience. With the cost of massage being prohibitive for some, Yomassage™, is an opportunity to receive the power of touch and receive the benefits of yoga in an affordable format that can become part of their regular self-care treatment.
Sources:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/min-andmood-/yoga-for-anxiety-and-depression
http://www.massagemag.com/news/2006/january/125/tiffany.php
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depresion.shtml
