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You may have heard about how precious your adrenal glands are to your overall health. They help regulate how you digest food, use up your energy, and respond to stressful situations. But they can be pretty hard to manage from the outside! Turns out, in addition to a healthy diet and exercise, the occasional massage for your adrenal glands can boost their efficiency!
What Are Your Adrenal Glands?
Your adrenal glands are slightly larger than the average grape and sit snugly inside your abdomen. They are responsible for several hormones that help you regulate your mood, especially in dangerous or high-stakes situations.
Cortisol, estrogen, and testosterone are a few commonly-known hormones that come from your adrenal glands. These hormones tell you whether to sit and wait it out, fight back, or run away during times of high stress or anxiety.
The adrenal glands also play a hand in weight gain (or loss) and your sex drive! You might wish that you could massage your adrenal glands directly to get your body up and running the way you want. Unfortunately, you have to be a bit more strategic when caring for your adrenals.
How Can Massage Benefit Your Adrenal Glands?
The benefits of a regular body massage are vast for your adrenal glands. Have a look at seven key advantages to making massage part of your regular health routine.
Your Dopamine and Serotonin Levels Will Increase
Hormones like dopamine and serotonin control how you feel. Take a moment to notice all the ways you feel right now! It’s impressive when you uncover all the experiences that dopamine and serotonin are responsible for.
These experiences can all be explained by the balance (or imbalance) of dopamine and serotonin in your body:
- Body temperature
- Hunger
- Thirst
- Sex drive
- Experiences of pleasure
- Mood
To think an enjoyable massage can actually level out everything listed and give you the energy and motivation to fight another day is amazing, right? Considering all the other things you do to maintain your overall health, a massage for your adrenal glands doesn’t sound all that bad!
It Helps Release Muscle Tension
The impacts of massage on muscle tension and soreness go beyond the obvious. Not only do massages physically knead away tightness in your muscles—they also send specific messages to your adrenal glands for additional benefits.
For example, massages help your adrenal glands release hormones for relaxation. It creates a state of calm in your body, allowing your muscles to fully soften and warm up for maximum results.
Massages Promote Homeostasis
Homeostasis is the experience of balance and peacefulness throughout your body. And massage definitely sends signals to your adrenal glands for improved homeostasis.
Of course, the concept of homeostasis is a romantic one—all problems silenced and your mind and body completely calm. You can’t expect a single massage for adrenal glands to wash all of your ailments and worries away. But continued use of massage therapy can encourage gradual improvements.
A Massage For Your Adrenal Glands Can Help Balance Cortisol Levels
Cortisol is the hormone that manages stress. You’re probably thinking, “I need a lot of that!” But actually, too much cortisol can be a bad thing! If you’re feeling stressed out, it’s likely that your body is producing too much of this hormone.
Your adrenal glands register many different experiences as stress:
- Illness
- Exercise
- Outside threats (danger)
- Extreme overwhelm
- Exhaustion
And those are just the tip of the iceberg!
Luckily, a massage for your adrenal glands can help balance cortisol production, which works to relieve the stress of everyday life.
Lymphatic Drainage From a Massage Keeps Your Adrenal Glands Healthy
Another way that massage benefits adrenal glands is by encouraging the flow of lymphatic fluid. Lymphatic fluid plays a part in delivering necessary chemicals, vitamins, and nutrients into the bloodstream.
You can imagine the overall energy boost you might receive by regularly checking in with your lymphatic system. A regular massage routine will signal to your adrenal glands to drain excess fluid and put it to good use around your body.
Your Sleep Will Improve, Which Is Vital for Adrenal Fatigue Recovery
Yes! A massage tells your adrenal glands to prepare for a more effective night’s sleep. And the impacts of a quality night’s sleep are endless.
Try getting a massage right before bedtime. Your body will naturally enter a state of relaxation, which will help you to fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. Implementing massage on a nightly basis could even take the place of sleeping medications (so you can skip that routine trip to the drugstore).
Related: 7 Adrenal Fatigue Sleep Tips To Help You Feel More Rested
It Helps Reduce Inflammation, Relieving Stiffness and Pain
It makes sense when you consider the way massage promotes blood flow! Inflammation goes down and soreness lessens considerably after a massage for the adrenal glands.
The advantages of living with less pain (and expedited healing through massage) are vast! You’re able to exercise easier, sleep better, and focus better throughout the days you don’t have pain.
You know the advantages of massage for your muscles, but did you realize the advantages of massage for your adrenal glands? Even a quick daily massage, whether done professionally, with a gadget, or with the help of a family member, can seriously improve your life.
