You tell yourself that you want to stay awake for your massage and not miss a minute of how
good it feels. Yet, after only 10 minutes in, you’re drifting into dreamland, only to awaken for a
moment to turn over. It’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up! Your body needs the circulation and
stimulation of the feel-good hormones like serotonin and dopamine to finally shut off the stress hormones. This is what is referred to as the parasympathetic nervous system response.
Serotonin is the precursor to melatonin, the hormone responsible for getting your body ready for sleep. As stress begins to melt away and the muscles become infused with fresh oxygenated blood, serotonin becomes the building block for creating more melatonin. If cortisol, the stress hormone, is in great supply, it decreases the serotonin levels, making it more difficult for melatonin to do its job.
In addition, the vagus nerve is called the parasympathetic nerve. By stimulating this nerve, you
can reduce these negative reactions to stress and improve your body’s ability to relax, leading
to better sleep quality and increased energy levels overall…AKA: turning OFF fight or flight
mode and kicking on rest and digest mode. It has been shown that the vagus nerve helps to
produce melatonin as well.
The vagus nerve can be affected by massaging the back of the neck and the abdomen
particularly. Overall, massage therapy reduces muscle tension, reduces pain, and stimulates
the immune system. The vagus nerve responds like a stun-gun, slowing you down in your
tracks, forcing you to relax. If you add some aromatherapy to your massage, especially with oils that create calm like sandalwood, marjoram, lavender, vetiver and more, you double the effects of your hour massage. The olfactory nerve that senses smell has 2 connections to the brain, the limbic (emotional) system and the cerebral cortex (area for reasoning). If your brain tells you that you are safe and there is nothing to harm you, your emotional center in the brain takes over and allows the emotions to take charge of how you are feeling.
It’s a beautiful balance that the body tries to maintain. Put your body at ease and catch some
ZZZ’s with massage. You can sleep on that!
Sandy Saldano, Owner/LMT
Therapeutic Kneads, Ltd.