Ease Pain

Eight out of 10 Americans will experience debilitating back pain, according to Time.com, but a massage can help. According to a 2011 study, massage helped people in pain feel and function better compared to people who didn't receive any massage treatment. "We found the benefits of massage are about as strong as those reported for other effective treatments: medications, acupuncture, exercise and yoga," Dan Cherkin, Ph.D., lead author of the study, said in a press release. Massage has also been linked to decreased stiffness and pain, as well as a better range of motion in people with osteoarthritis.

 

 

Improve Sleep

If you've ever dozed off on a massage table, you don't need to be convinced that a massage can promote healthy sleep. A number of studies have examined this link, and chalk it up to massage's effect on delta waves, the kind of brain waves connected to deep sleep, according to Health magazine.