Is it me, or has everyone been sick lately?

The increase in colds and flues these past few months is not in your imagination. In August 2008, well before the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the American Psychological Association (APA), completed its survey, Stress in America.  They found that stress levels due to the financial downturn wreak havoc on our health. Fatigue, headaches, muscular tension and suppressed immune system are just a few physical ailments rooted in stress.

It doesn’t take an immunologist to point out the culprit to all this sneezing may be more than a cold virus with Wanderlust. Doom-and-gloom newscasts, panicky friends and family and tense workplaces take a hidden toll on our bodies and minds.

Basically, our economy is making us all sick.

Exercise has always been a great immune-boost, not to mention endorphins have a way of cutting worries down to size. But there’s another secret weapon that gym-goers and non-gym-goers alike overlook: Massage.

In times of trouble people neglect their bodies, but it’s precisely when our bodies benefit from massage the most.  If our lymph systems had a heart-type pump, we might not be in this coughy, sneezy mess.

Our lymph systems run roughly parallel to our circulatory systems. Lymph fluid captures and carries away the organisms, bacteria, viruses and other microscopic troublemakers that otherwise attack us. Because the lymph system has no pump of its own, it relies on movement and muscle contraction to move the fluid through.

So in times of higher stress– especially when we’re not making it to the gym regularly– our lymph fluid moves through our bodies more slowly. Toxins stay in our bodies longer, exposing us to more viruses at once and when we do get sick, we stay sick longer. 

That’s where massage therapy comes in. By helping the body circulate the lymph fluid, massage actually offers a deep cleansing of the body’s toxins. Germs and viruses that would otherwise make you sick, or prolong your illness, are eliminated through the lymph system.

But massage doesn’t stop there. Through pressure, massage reveals tension we don’t even realize we’re carrying. The person getting the massage senses the tension and consciously releases, while the masseuse softens the tights hard tissue. This double dose of relaxation is like a 1-hour vacation you take inside your own body. If you are lucky enough to live in Austin, Texas you should give massage austin a visit. 

Unemployed or not, we’re watching our money more than we have in decades. It may seem counter-intuitive to place a massage at the top of your priority list.  But in actuality, massage can yield more benefits– in the short and long term– than the dinner date, movie or new gadget intended to distract us from the bleak economy. By redefining massage as “necessity” rather than “luxury”, we’ll have a lot more mentally-alert, centered people better equipped to take the bull by the horns in this bear market.