Massage Therapy For Heart Health

Massage Therapy For Heart Health

Valentine’s Day = Healthy Heart
Valentine’s Day is all about the heart, right? In echoing that sentiment, President Obama and the American Heart Association have joined forces declaring February as American Hearth Month—a time to spread awareness around the number one killer of adult men and women in the country: heart disease. So instead of just nurturing the heart emotionally this Valentine’s day, why not try some physical heart health as well?

Almost half of all Americans have at least one major risk factor for heart disease, which include: obesity, inactivity, cholesterol, and high blood pressure. You can join President Obama and AHA in finding ways to nurture your heart. Besides maintaining a healthy diet, regular exercise, and not smoking, there are other beneficial things you can do to protect your heart, including and primarily massage therapy.

A good massage, performed by a skilled and trained massage therapist, can stimulate nerve endings in the skin, release endorphins, and inhibit stress hormones. But more importantly for the heart, massage circulates the blood more efficiently causing blood pressure to drop and heart rates to slow down. In addition, a regular regimen of massage reduces the risks associated with cardiac arrhythmias and can decrease diastolic blood pressure—in essence, lowering the odds of a heart attack.

What better way to celebrate American Heart Month and Valentine’s Day with a drug-free, non-invasive approach to heart health than massage therapy?

If you’d like more information about American Heart Month, see the American Heart Association’s website.