RELAXATION IS IMPORTANT FOR WELL-BEING

According to the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), wellness is defined as the voluntary pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to overall good health. The environments in which we live, work and travel are essential of our well-being but are largely underestimated. Facing an increase in life expectancy, chronic disease, stress and unhappiness, it is important to refocus our attention on what makes us feel good.

Wellness economics encompasses industries that enable consumers to integrate wellness activities into their daily lives. The GWI counts 10 fields around wellness:

• Traditional & complementary medicine
• Public health & preventive medicine
• Weight loss & healthy nutrition
• Fitness
• The spas
• Beauty, anti-aging & personal care
• Tourism
• Real estate (Green Building)
• Occupational health
• Thermalism

Relaxation activities are very popular in Asia, Australia and the USA to improve well-being. Among the many activities, massage has demonstrated many positive effects. Massage is indeed a method of relaxation and well-being validated by science with thousands of articles published in the scientific press.

BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF MASSAGE ON WELL-BEING

• In 2006, an Australian study showed that massage therapy is a beneficial tool for nurses’ health because it can reduce their psychological stress level.
• A 2016, two U.S. studies showed that massage helped reduce stress and anxiety, improve mood, overall health and quality of life for cancer patients(3) but also had a positive effect on attention deficit, insomnia, pain and immunity.
• A 2017 British study showed that massage improves physical, emotional and mental wellbeing through improved sleep, relaxation, stress relief and muscle tension.
• A 2017 U.S. survey showed that approximately 7% (15.4 million) of U.S. adults used massage therapy primarily for general disease prevention, wellness or musculoskeletal pain. Most respondents reported positive results of massage on specific health problems and general well-being.

The hand is an essential tool in the practice of massage with many benefits. It is a precise diagnostic aid with the possibility of perceiving hot, cold, indurated, oedematous or painful tissues. But the hand has its limits: there are areas that remain difficult to access, the patient or the practitioner can sometimes feel pain, the gesture can be irregular, and fatigue can quickly set in with the practitioner.

endermologie® is an ultra-sophisticated massage technique with a multitude of possible settings. In fact, it is designed to mechanically reproduce different modes of manual massage: palpate-roll maneuver and the Jacquet pinch. According to one LPG study report, a significant decrease in heart rate was observed after 12 endermologie sessions, which is in favour of a relaxing effect of endermologie®.

DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF THE LOCKDOWN ON WELL-BEING

An American study published in the Lancet in 2020 highlights the psychological impact of lockdown: « the duration of lockdown itself is a stress factor: a duration of more than 10 days is predictive of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, avoidance behaviours and anger. Stress doesn’t stop after lockdown ends ». A Chinese team conducted a national survey on the degree of psychological distress among the Chinese population following the Covid-19 outbreak. The authors show moderate psychological stress for 35.27% of men and 64.73% of women! On the site of the largest mental health teaching hospital in Canada (CAMH), relaxation is one of the recommendations for dealing with stress and anxiety. This includes any activity that we find enjoyable and relaxing. To put it plainly… Confinement can cause many symptoms including anxiety, emotional fatigue, insomnia, anger, stress… With negative effects on concentration, loss of motivation to work, stressrelated illnesses, etc., and it alters immunity. It is important to relax our body, take care of and pamper oneself and refocus on what is good for us. Let us be empathetic and caring towards our bodies, let’s try to reduce the negative psychological effects of stress. Because, yes, it is important for our well-being to take time to relax!

LET’S DISCOVER endermologie® RELAXATION TREATMENTS AND THEIR BENEFICIAL IMPACT ON WELL-BEING!

SOURCES:

• Global Wellness Economy Monitor – October 2018: https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/press-room/
  statistics-and-facts/
• Bost N, Wallis M. The effectiveness of a 15 minutes weekly massage in reducing physical and
  psychological stress in nurses. Aust J Adv Nurs. 2006 Jun-Aug;23(4):28-33. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.
  nih.gov/16800217/
• Rosenbaum MS, Velde J. The Effects of Yoga, Massage, and Reiki on Patient Well-Being at a Cancer
  Resource Center. Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2016 Jun 1;20(3):E77-81.
• Field T. Massage therapy research review. Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2016 Aug;24:19-31. https://
  pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27502797/
• MacSween A. et al. A randomised crossover trial comparing Thai and Swedish massage for fatigue
  and depleted energy. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2018 Jul;22(3):817-828. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.
  gov/30100318/
• Sundberg T. el al.. Prevalence, patterns, and predictors of massage practitioner utilization: Results of
  a US nationally representative survey. Musculoskelet Sci Pract. 2017 Dec;32:31-37. https://pubmed.ncbi.
  nlm.nih.gov/28802839/
• Brooks SK. Et al. The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the
  evidence. Lancet. 2020 Mar 14;395(10227):912-920. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32112714/
• Qiu J, et al. A nationwide survey of psychological distress among Chinese people in the COVID-19
  epidemic: implications and policy recommendations. Gen Psychiatr. 2020 Mar 6;33(2): e100213. https://
  pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32215365/
• https://www.camh.ca/fr/info-sante/mental-health-and-covid-19/coping-with-stress-and-anxiety