How Massage Therapy Can Help Rid the Winter Blues

Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, is recognized as a major depressive disorder with seasonal patterns. Once called the winter blues, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that begins in the fall or winter and disappears by the next spring or summer.

Taking time for massage is as important for people dealing with depression as it is for people dealing with arthritis, sports injuries and carpal tunnel syndrome.

How Can a Massage Help in Beating the Winter Blues?

To know the answer to that question, you have to understand how a massage works to the recipient’s benefit.

Massage is a somatic therapy where the soft tissues of the body are manipulated in order to reduce tiredness or irritability and improve the circulation. Massage therapy can improve sleep, specifically by assisting with circadian rhythms, or the body clock. A study investigating the effects of massage therapy on the adjustment of rest to activity, as well as melatonin secretion rhythms in full-term infants, found massage therapy enhanced coordination of the circadian system.

People suffering from winter depression have reported excellent results from massage therapy

The bodywork is especially designed to relieve the tension and fatigue that causes people to suffer physically and psychologically. A massage increases immune system functioning and also helps people who smoke to quit the habit as well.

Making positive changes to your wellness habits during the fall and winter months can help increase your overall well-being, and support any other treatment suggested by your physician or mental health care provider.

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