Benefits of Having a Massage in Autumn and Winter
It feels like autumn is almost over and the cold of winter is approaching us faster than we would like. However, with the winter months come a few good things: open fireplaces, bright and frosty mornings, cuddling in woollen jumpers, and a desire to pamper yourself!
You may be embracing party season with hair, make up and some sparkling manicures, but having a massage can actually help you truly enjoy the winter with a wide range of benefits you may not have initially known about.
From improving your mood to increasing blood flow, the power of a massage should not be underestimated! Here, we’ll count down our favourite benefits and why they are perfect in the run-up to the festive season.
Massages Improve Your Blood Circulation
Although there’s nothing quite like a brisk walk on a wintry morning, the cold weather seriously affects your blood flow. Lower temperatures actually make your blood vessels thinner, which means less blood and oxygen is reaching your heart. This means that your blood pressure and heart rate could increase and, whilst this isn’t particularly dangerous on its own, it could compound issues for people who suffer with circulatory problems anyway.
A massage can help a great deal in moving blood through the areas where it is becoming congested. In fact, massages will also help your lymphatic system flush out all the waste fluid, so your blood can run more freely, thereby reducing your blood pressure, helping you feel a bit more excited for those winter walks!
Massages Can Help Keep Your Skin Soft
Cold weather and harsh winds can take huge amounts of moisture from your skin. Even if you wrap up in multiple layers, you may find yourself with dry skin as a result of both the lower humidity of winter and the introduction of new materials to your skin (have you got your woolly jumpers out of the cupboard yet?).
Massages are known to soften the skin by promoting elasticity through the use of essential oils. The natural ingredients in some massage oils will soak into your skin leaving it feel hydrated, smooth, and winter-ready!
Massages Could Boost Your Winter Immunity
We all know what its like when the weather changes and the whole office suddenly contracts what feels like the plague. Combine illness with dark evenings and chilly air and you’ve got the recipe for a pretty miserable season. The last thing you want to resemble is Rudolph with a red and chapped nose.
Although massages can’t take the place of some good old-fashioned medicine, they can help boost your immunity by giving your lymph flow a bit of help. As we mentioned before, the lymphatic system helps push blood around your body, but it also houses white blood cells which are there to fight off infection. A massage can keep all the elements moving so that, if you do catch that dreaded office plague, you can help fight it off with a bit of pampering.
Massages Will Make You Feel Better!
Winter can be a very stressful season. Christmas and the new year bring about a wide range of issues that can overtake the festive feeling sometimes. From family gatherings to busy shopping trips to school holidays, everyone feels the pressure at some point.
Although it could be tempting to jet off somewhere warm and leave all your troubles behind, you’d probably miss some of the special things that make cold winter enjoyable. So, if the stress is starting to get too much, why not take a little break to your local spa and enjoy a relaxing massage.
Did you know that headaches can become common through the winter months? This is often due to lingering congestion after a head cold, sinusitis or central heating. If you suffer from recurring headaches, Indian head massage or holistic face massage or aromatherapy essential oils such as Peppermint could certainly benefit you here. Of course, if you have persistent headaches, it is best to visit your GP for a check-up. You may even need a new glasses prescription, so visit your optician too.
A massage will not just help relieve aching, tired muscles, but it will release serotonin and endorphins that will improve mood and give you a sense of wellbeing – at least until the in-laws show up!
