The long and short of it is that when it's well done, massage therapy helps bodies relax.  There are a variety of other benefits, but one could humbly submit just that one benefit and consider the benefits that follow from it for quite a while.  If you're the type of reader who needs more than one reason, then read on ...

Experts estimate that upwards of ninety percent of disease is stress-related. And perhaps nothing ages us faster, internally and externally, than high stress. Massage is an effective tool for managing this stress, which translates into:

• Decreased anxiety.
• Enhanced sleep quality.
• Greater energy.
• Improved concentration.
• Reduced fatigue.

Massage can also help specifically address a number of health issues. Massage may:

• Alleviate low-back pain and improve range of motion.
• Assist with shorter, easier labor for expectant mothers and shorten maternity hospital stays.
• Ease medication dependence.
• Enhance immunity by stimulating lymph flow—the body's natural defense system.
• Exercise and stretch weak, tight, or atrophied muscles.
• Help athletes of any level prepare for, and recover from, strenuous workouts.
• Improve the condition of the body's largest organ—the skin.
• Increase joint flexibility.
• Lessen depression and anxiety.
• Promote tissue regeneration, reducing scar tissue and stretch marks.
• Reduce postsurgery adhesions and swelling.
• Reduce spasms and cramping.
• Relax and soften injured, tired, and overused muscles.
• Release endorphins—amino acids that work as the body's natural painkiller.
• Relieve migraine pain.

Want more information?  Need studies to go with those statements?  One of Kathleen's teachers keeps a very comprehensive and current bibliography on what art and science know about massage and cancer.  You can find citations for the brain and the heart on her website ( https://www.tracywalton.com/bibliography-2/ ).  Enjoy!