How massage tells your nervous system to chill out. Or… how the Swedish pulls a Big Lebowski.

What does the nervous system do for you?

man holding low back muscles indicating they hurt

Your nervous system is like a second brain that runs and regulates the body. When you are injured or overuse a muscle, your nervous system thinks “Danger danger!” and pools its resources around the site of injury to attempt to guard that injury from movement so you will keep still and the body can swoop in with its special healing cells to repair and restore you. This causes muscles to tighten and stiffen in and around the site to protect the affected area. But what happens when the injury is healed but the muscles got so used to being tight that they forgot to let go, and your body is still guarding that site in anticipation of a “what if it gets hurt again” scenario?

What can help the nervous system let go?

That’s where massage can help! The nervous system will quiet down the quickest with slow deep breathing coupled with the sensation of delightful, pleasant pressure of massage on the skin. We need to give it new information that says, “Hey dude, there’s no danger here anymore. You can let go and be chill again.” A glorious, soothing Swedish massage is the ticket. We must work WITH the nervous system instead of against it.

woman receiving massage around head looking relaxed and serene

Is a Swedish massage enough?

Yes, there is great value in soothing and relieving the body as a whole, using comfortable flowing strokes. Massage therapy is a proven method to help combat stress and reduce its negative effects on the mind and body. It has been shown that even just 10 minutes of massage therapy can activate the body's natural happy hormones and leave you feeling more relaxed and less stressed. An Australian study has shown that massage can decrease levels of the stress hormone cortisol by an average of 31% and increase the feel-good hormones serotonin and dopamine by an average of 28%.*

What does a painful massage tell the nervous system?

Are you a person who loves “a hurt so good”? Well, when trying to relieve pain through massage, this idea rarely serves you. (In fact, I don’t believe in massages that hurt and won’t agree to give you one.) Additional pain tells the nervous system, “Danger danger!” all over again. If I apply pressure that is painful to your muscles or body, your nervous system says “Pain here! Come and protect me! Hold me tight!” Rather, you want to tell your nervous system, “It’s all good here. Nothing to see. No need to hold anything. Feel free to let go and be chill.” In short, a solid and delightful Swedish massage will pull a Big Lebowski on the nervous system. “The Dude abides. This aggression will not stand, man.”