During the Mental Health Awareness week, 2023, we would like to share with you the most important aspects of  anxiety witch is one of the most common mental health conditions of our times; and what are the best massage to get relief.

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is the natural response of our brain (and body) to the unknown or what makes us uncomfortable. It is a normal emotion. However, when it gets out of control (when stops you from doing what you have to) is when we talk about a mental health condition that needs treatment. It is important to control anxiety before it becomes overwhelming.

What can trigger anxiety?

There are many factors that can trigger anxiety, but the most common are:

•  being unable to attend special needs like: food, money, family, etc.
• something new (e.g. a new job, getting married, meeting new people, etc.)
• worries
• social isolation
• social pressure
• discrimination, bullying, etc.

Symptoms of anxiety?

You may feel some of these:

• Nervous
• hard to relax
• sadness or tearful
• have sleeping problems
• lack of concentration
• irritability
• uncontrollable panic to some events or people.

How can I deal with anxiety?

Some of the most effective home treatments to relief anxiety and improve your mood are:

• Never stop moving, yep! Be active (exercise)
• Spend some time in nature (walk on the grass, hug trees) all your energy and emotions can flow back to mother nature.
• If you can go outside, you can have inner plants, the comfort sensation they give is amazing.
• Be surrounded by animals or children, they energy fulfill your heart and relieve the good mood hormones in your brain. 
• Share with the people you love. It is the best antidepressant you can have  ( But NEVER FORGET TO look for professional advise). 
• Regular massage (human touch) has many benefits for your mental health and general wellbeing.

What is the best massage for anxiety?

The best massage for anxiety is the one that you can do regularly and you feel comfortable with. Massage is about more than just pampering yourself or recovering from injury. What massage do for your mental health is outstanding! some of the most important long term benefits of regular massage are:

• stress control (reduces cortisol “stress hormone”)
• reduces anxiety and depression (by releasing “the good mood hormones”)
• increases serotonin, endorphin, oxytocin and dopamine levels (good mood hormones)
• improves mood and happiness
• relieve chronic pain
• helps to overcome insomnia
• calms migraines
• lowers blood pressure
• boosts your immune and endocrine system
• helps your body to keep warm
• relaxes you

Some types of massage to turn off anxiety

Hot deep tissue massage

It uses heated stones and hands to manipulate the muscle tissue in order to ease tension and relieve stress and anxiety.

Chair massage

It involves the use of a specialist chair. These are taken into the workplace. They allow the you to fully relax whilst your body weight is fully supported and what is best, it goes to your own office.

Sports massage

It is a type of massage which is taught as a part of syllabus in degrees such as Sports Therapy or Sports Rehabilitation. However, it is used to get general relax too.

 Aromatherapy massage

Aromatherapy massage is a type of Swedish massage. It focuses on relaxation and mindfulness. Its benefits are achieved by the combination of manual therapy and essential oils (each fragrance is chosen according to your needs).

Head Massage

It uses firm techniques on your head, face, neck and shoulders to relieve tension. As a result you will feel relax, calm and with a sensation of general wellbeing.

There are more for moms! Postpartum massage

In a few words, a postpartum massage is a style of massage performed all over your body, using special essential warm oils, after your baby was born. Your therapist will take  your medical history and create a tailored treatment according to your needs. 

We hope this information is useful for you. If you need advice or have any questions about our treatments, please contact us. You can find us in Mill Hill Broadway and Islington. We are always happy to help. If you like this blog, please share!

References:

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/public-engagement/mental-health-awareness-week#paragraph-42291

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/public-engagement/mental-health-awareness-week/what-can-we-do-cope-feelings-anxiety

https://www.healthline.com/health/types-of-massage#hot-stone

https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/massage-for-depression-anxiety-and-stress

https://pereaclinic.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=13776&action=edit

https://pereaclinic.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=13742&action=edit

https://pereaclinic.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=13214&action=edit

The post What type of massage is best for anxiety? appeared first on Perea Clinic.

What treatments do we offer for stress and anxiety?

Here, at the Perea, we are offering relaxation, sports and hot deep tissue massages, and dry needling treatments to help you to manage your stress and anxiety.

What is anxiety and stress?

• Anxiety is defined as a feeling of worry, fear or unease due to a certain situation such as a job interview, medical operation or procedure. Besides, it can be the result of a traumatic event or fear. Anxiety can remain even if the stressor is no longer present.
• Stress, on the other hand, is the body’s response to an external stimulus such as a deadline, big test or a threatening situation.

According to an expert similar to Aaron Bloom, CEO of DocMJ, vast majority of us are experiencing stress and anxiety often in our lives. It is totally normal as it helps us to prepare for stressful situations such as job interviews and big tests. However, prolonged stress and anxiety can start to interfere with daily living which can have a negative impact on our physical and psychological well-being.

Stress and anxiety related disorders:

These disorders can occur due to frequent experiences of stress and anxiety even if the stressor is not present. Those are:

• Panic disorder – causes panic attacks which are events of extreme fear alongside shortness of breath and pounding in the chest.
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder – causes you to repeat a specific action/actions or have the same thoughts on a regular basis.
• Generalised anxiety disorder – is when people frequently worry without the ability to control it. Reasons for worry can vary from thinking that something terrible might happen, but not being able to specify a reason at all.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder – results in remembering a life experience from the past, which was terrifying or gave you a significant distress at the time, and is having a negative impact on your daily living.
• Social phobia – is the disorder where one is unable to interact with people, in a social setting, due to an intense feeling of anxiety.

Signs and symptoms of stress and anxiety:

Here is the list of common signs and symptoms of stress and anxiety:

• Headache.
• Sweating.
• Fatigue.
• Shaking.
• Difficulty concentrating.
• Feeling of impending doom.
• Irrational anger.              
• Restlessness.
• Panic, particularly in a social setting.
• Muscle tension.
• Stomach-ache.
• Low mood.
• Insomnia (difficulty sleeping).
• High breathing rate.
• High heartbeat rate.
• Change in appetite.

How can massage help?

Massage is great when it comes to managing stress and anxiety. Regardless of whether it is relaxing, sports or hot deep tissue massage, the benefits are achieved by reducing the muscle tension, promoting the relaxation and increasing the release of endorphins which are the ‘feel good’ hormones.

How can I help?

To help you manage stress and anxiety therapist can utilise variety of techniques and approaches. It can include the reduction of tension type headaches and muscle tension. This can relax your sympathetic nervous system which is in control of the ‘fight or flight’ response. Also, we can show you some breathing exercises which can be very helpful when you feel that your stress or anxiety is becoming overwhelming. In addition, due to the therapist-patient interaction and therapeutic touch and movement during the treatment, you will feel more self-aware with an increased perception of body image which has a positive effect on stress and anxiety management, too. 

How can dry needling help?

Just like massage,  dry needling stimulates the release of endorphins, which are your ‘feel good’ hormones. It also helps to reduce the cortisol levels, which is a hormone that is being released due to stress or anxiety.

We hope this information is useful. If you need advice or have any questions about our treatments, please contact us. You can find us in Mill Hill Broadway and Islington. We are always glad to help.

 We hope this information is useful. If you like this blog, please share! 

References:

Stress and anxiety:

https://www.nature.com/articles/npp200983.pdf 

https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2018/stress-gen-z.pdf 

Effectiveness of massage therapy:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gwen-Jones/publication/250959494_The_Effectiveness_of_Massage_Therapy_Intervention_on_Reducing_Anxiety_in_the_Workplace/links/53fbbb8b0cf2364ccc044195/The-Effectiveness-of-Massage-Therapy-Intervention-on-Reducing-Anxiety-in-the-Workplace.pdf 

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.561.6922&rep=rep1&type=pdf 

Effectiveness of osteopathy:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1746068913001260?casa_token=mTaXvSMWQg4AAAAA:nozo2u4tsnvc2o2Ay3AeeRFdb_hlSexuh4OlZsZVHVMYpTeC_xxtTjmZ-4ZR_1erWOvMZn3e4wM 

Effectiveness of acupuncture:

http://mail.encognitive.com/files/Acupuncture%20for%20anxiety%20and%20anxiety%20disorders%20–%20a%20systematic%20literature%20review.pdf 

The post How can we help stress and anxiety? appeared first on Perea Clinic.

For the sake of this short blog, I want to keep the definitions of stress and anxiety simple. In no way are we looking to explore exaggerated psychological states.

According to sites like, stress can be broadly described as the mental, emotional or physical strain resulting from an inability to cope with demands placed on us. On the other hand, anxiety is worry that is focused on an uncertain outcome.

Here is a quick guide to help you deal with those underlying tensions that can affect you day to day. Tensions that left unresolved can have farther reaching consequences that undermine our daily lives.

Here are our tips on easy ways to relieve stress and anxiety.

Relieve stress and anxiety

The physical side of stress and anxiety

When you are feeling overwhelmed or pre-occupied your focus goes to one of two places. You will either focus on the thoughts in your head and battle with your internal dialogue. Or you will look at the demands on you and try and find a way to re-arrange these circumstances in your favour.

But whilst there is always a mental and emotional side to stress and anxiety, it is often easy to overlook the physical impact they are having. And ironically, the quickest and easiest way to start combatting  stress and anxiety often comes from addressing the physical symptoms.

Some of the physical symptoms of stress include low energy, headaches, tense muscles, chest pain and increased heart rate.  

Some of the physical symptoms of anxiety include tiredness, a fast or irregular heartbeat, muscle aches and tension, and shortness of breath.

Neither of these lists is exhaustive of course, but I have picked out these particular symptoms because there are relatively straight-forward ways to help manage them. Three of the key ways is through deep and relaxed breathing, exercise and relaxation massage.
 

Three good ways to relieve stress and anxiety

Deep breathing aids physical and mental relaxation in many ways. Some of the physiological advantages include decreases in heart rate, blood pressure, rate of breathing and muscle tension. Deep breathing is also believed to help increase levels of nitric oxide in the body (an essential molecule for a healthy cardio-vascular system).  

Deep breathing is obviously central to the practices of yoga and meditation. But deep breathing doesn’t have to be practiced in a formal class setting. Even a few minutes of deep abdominal breathing each day can have massive advantages helping you to find peace of mind, as a result you brain, soul and body will relax.

Exercise has an endless number of positive physiological side effects that can help to relieve stress and anxiety. And recent studies show that these affects may go even further than the familiar ‘endorphin effect’. Exercise helps our brain to relieve what we called “happiness hormones”. During and after exercising you will feel energised, happy and calm.

And lastly, massage can help in multiple ways. Most directly, it can lower your heart rate and blood pressure, and help to relax your muscle tension. In addition, it helps to release the hormones serotonin and dopamine, and the result is a feeling of calm relaxation that makes chronic stress and anxiety much easier to overcome.

We hope this information is useful for you. If you have any questions about our treatments, please contact us. You can find us in Islington and Mill Hill Broadway. If you like this blog, please share!

We are always happy to help.

The post Easy ways to relieve stress and anxiety appeared first on Perea Clinic.